Hon. Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of a Lagos Special Offences Court, Ikeja, has sentenced a 31-year-old teacher, Idowu Daniel, to seven years imprisonment for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old student within a school premises. The judge while delivering judgment on the defilement case, yesterday, found him guilty of sexual assault. Although, Justice Taiwo held that the prosecution failed to prove the charge of defilement against the defendant, as the survivor failed to show up in court to testify, she however said the confessional statement by the defendant, made voluntarily, showed that he sexually assaulted the minor.

According to her, “the defendant admitted to have fondled the breast of the survivor twice and tried to have sex with her but he could not penetrate as she was a virgin. The defendant is hereby convicted on the charge of sexual assault of a child.” Pleading for mercy before the sentencing, Daniel said: “ I am very sorry for what happened. I promise it will not happen again.” The judge berated the convict for touching (fondling) the survivor, noting that he would have got life imprisonment if the minor had testified in court. “ You are a teacher and you were touching the breast of your student. You would have gone for life if the victim had come to court to testify,” the judge said. Justice Taiwo, who had earlier sentenced the convict to five years imprisonment, however, increased his jail term to seven without an option of fine after, he said he had been in custody for three years. The convict was remanded to Kirikiri prison on the order of the

Chief Magistrate sometime in July 2019.