A former teacher and okada rider at El-Bossaa Nursery and Primary School, Epe, Lagos State, Nwatu Isaac, will spend the rest of his life in prison for defiling an eight-year-old pupil.
Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Lagos State Special Offences Court, Ikeja, convicted Isaac on Tuesday after holding that the prosecution proved the charge of defilement beyond reasonable doubt, contrary to Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The court found that Isaac, whom the victim knew as “Master Isaac,” lured the girl into the school’s male toilet on March 10, 2022, where he sexually assaulted her. The judge held that the survivor’s testimony was credible and corroborated by her mother, police investigators and medical evidence from the Mirabel Centre.
Justice Oshodi rejected the defence’s alibi, noting inconsistencies in the testimony of its eight witnesses and that Isaac’s own evidence placed him at the school at the time. The judge also ordered his name to be entered in the Sex Offenders Register.
In sentencing, Oshodi condemned the abuse of trust, the threat allegedly issued to silence the child, and the convict’s lack of remorse.
The court also directed the prosecution to activate protection for the victim and her mother under the Victim Assistance and Witness Protection Law, 2022, following claims of intimidation by some school staff in Epe.
