Lagos police have arrested a 28-year-old teacher, Idowu Daniel, at a private school in the Abule-Egba area of the state for allegedly having sex with a female pupil in his care.
Daniel, who teaches computer science at Anatasia Comprehensive College, reportedly raped the 17-year-old pupil inside the school’s biology laboratory.
It was learnt that Daniel had asked the pupil to bring her computer science note to him at the laboratory for marking.
On getting there, the teacher reportedly made overtures to her and fondled her breasts. She was said to have resisted the advances and left.
The following day, Friday, June 28, 2019, Daniel was said to have sent for the pupil again, asking her to come to the laboratory with her note. He reportedly shut the door and forcefully had sex with her.
Three days after, on a Monday Daniel called the girl into the laboratory again and told her that she did not do well in computer science and mathematics exams.
He again allegedly demanded sex from her so he could increase her marks in the two papers.
It was learnt that the girl declined the offer and reported the incident to the school principal, leading to Daniel’s arrest by the police at the Isokoko division, Agege, Lagos.
Narrating the alleged rape to the police, the pupil said Daniel covered her mouth to prevent her from shouting.
She said, “On Thursday (June 27, 2019), my computer science teacher sent a pupil to me to bring my note to the biology lab. As he was marking the note, he stopped and started pressing my breasts. I told him I didn’t like it and he asked me to go.
“On Friday, he sent another pupil to me that I should bring my note to the lab. When I got there, he stood up and closed the door. I asked him why he locked the door, but he did not say anything. He went back to his seat and started marking my note.”
The teenager said after a while, Daniel stopped marking and asked her to bend down, adding that before she knew what was happening, he grabbed her from the back.
She said, “He covered my mouth and raped me. He then asked me to go. On Monday, he asked me to bring my computer science note again to the chemistry lab.
“He said if I allowed him to have sex with me again, he would increase my marks in both mathematics and computer science exams. He said I did not perform well in his subject. I told him that I was not interested.”
The pupil further said Daniel told her to wait for him in a room where instruments were kept, adding that she vowed to report him to the principal if he continued to disturb her.
“He dared me to report him and I did,” she added.
However, Daniel, in his statement, said he only fondled the pupil’s breasts but did not penetrate her private part.
He said a pupil, identified only as Samuel, had reported to him that the girl exposed her breasts in the midst of male pupils while they were playing at the back of the school premises.
He stated, “While I was at the principal’s office, showing the principal the reshuffled examination timetable, she came for the marking of her note. I said I was busy and she waited for me outside. As I was going to the staff room, she walked up to me and presented her book for marking.
“I stopped by at the biology laboratory to mark it and I asked her about what Samuel told me. She initially kept mute. When I said I would report her to her parents, she confirmed that what the boy told me was true.
“I sent for her the next day and she came. I tried to have sex with her but I couldn’t penetrate. I asked her whether she was a virgin and she said yes. I felt for her being a virgin and I stopped. I was at home when policemen came to ask for me. They took me to the school and accused me of rape. I accepted that I touched her breasts, but I didn’t rape her.”
A police prosecutor, ASP Ben Emuerhi, consequently brought Daniel before an Ogba Magistrates’ Court on one count of defilement.
The charge read, “That you, Idowu Daniel, on June 27, 2019, at 9.25 am in the Biology lab, at Anatasia Comprehensive College, Abule-Egba, Lagos State, in the Ikeja Magisterial District, did unlawfully defile a 17-year-old girl by inserting your penis into her vagina, thereby committing an offence punishable under Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2015,”
The presiding Chief Magistrate, Mrs O. Sule-Amzat, did not take the defendant’s plea.
The magistrate held that the case file should be forwarded to the Directorate of Public Prosecutions for legal advice.
She added that the defendant should be remanded in prison custody pending the outcome of the DPP’s advice.
The case was adjourned till October 21, 2019.