A 27-year-old teacher, Bright Emelogu has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court in Ikeja, Lagos on Thursday for sodomising his 14-year-old student.
Justice Abiola Soladoye of the Ikeja held that Emelogu was amoral, callous, reckless and everything a teacher should not.
The judge said that the offender inflicted bodily, emotional and mental trauma on the survivor. The offence violated Section 261 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015
According to her, the survivor’s evidence was substantiated by the evidence of the nominal complainant, his aunt and the medical report from Mirabel Medical Centre, Ikeja.
She said: “The survivor, in this case, narrated before this court that the defendant was his class teacher and that he complained to his aunt that he was not doing well in school.
“The survivor said ‘he (defendant) told his aunt that he was dumb which made the aunt arrange an after-school lesson with the defendant.
“The survivor said the defendant ordered him to go into the school toilet and but he refused which made him threaten to fail the survivor in his third term examination if he did not obey him.
“The survivor said he eventually co-operated with the defendant because he was afraid and he followed him to the toilet”.
The judge affirmed the survivor’s testimony as truthful and found the survivor’s aunt’s evidence to be clear and unequivocal.
The medical report presented in court showed signs of healing and lacerations in the anus area, which were determined to be unrelated to haemorrhoids.
The judge disregarded the defense’s written plea to dismiss the case, stating that the prosecution successfully established all the elements of sexual assault by penetration against the defendant.
The judge considered the defendant’s testimony to be self-serving, dishonest, and inconsistent, particularly as he denied writing a statement.
She said: “his own confessional statement which he denied ever writing was admitted into evidence in this court.
“Exhibit A, the statement of the defendant, exhibit B, statement of nominal complainant and exhibit C, the medical report are self-explanatory and pertinent to convict the defendant.
“The same exhibit A is crucial as it is the confessional statement of the defendant which is good as granting conviction.
“This paedophile, Bright Emelogu, is a disgrace to the teaching profession and he must pay for his sexual indiscretions.
“Hopefully, this will also serve to other male teachers like him to desist from messing around with the innocence of their students,”
The, judge, having found the defendant guilty of the one count charge, sentenced him to life imprisonment.
She ordered that the defendant have his name registered in the sexual offences register as maintained by Lagos State Government.
Soladoye called on school proprietors to be selective and conduct due diligence on their staff before recruiting them.
She said schools at all times should encourage students and pupils to speak up whenever they were sexually molested.
“I know they might be afraid to do so but this is to their own advantage as they can report same to appropriate authorities.
“Association of school proprietors as a matter of fact should hold conferences, meetings to encourage pupils and children to speak up.
“A teacher is to teach morals and impact knowledge but alas! this defendant is everything a teacher should not be,” Soladoye said.
The state counsel, Mrs Olufunke Adegoke called three witnesses while the defendant testified as sole witness.
