An Igbosere Magistrates’ Court in Lagos has ordered a 40-year-old lesson teacher, Faruk Adam, to be remanded in prison for allegedly sexually assaulting nine of his pupils pending legal advice from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions.
Adam, whose plea was not taken on Tuesday, is standing trial on nine counts bordering on alleged sexual assault on nine of his pupils.
The prosecutor, Sergeant Peace Chukwudi, said the defendant committed the offences between November 2018 and February 2019 at No. 1 Jaiye Balogun Street, Parkview Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos.
According to her, the defendant unlawfully inserted his fingers into the private parts of the nine pupils between the ages of seven and 13.
Chukwudi told the court that the defendant sexually assaulted a 13-year-old victim, especially by squeezing her breasts.
The prosecutor said the offences contravened sections 261 and 263 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
Magistrate K. O. Doja-Ojo ordered that the case file be duplicated and a copy sent to the DPP office for legal advice.
She remanded the defendant in prison pending the outcome of the DPP’s legal advice before adjourning the case till March 21 for mention.
Meanwhile, the same court, on Tuesday, adjorned the trial of a former Wema Bank employee, Kazeem Olawuwo, who was accused of fraudulently transferring N2.4m customers’ funds.
Olawuwo, 37, and his female friend, Risikatu Wahab, 35, were arraigned on 12 counts bordering on conspiracy, fraud and stealing.
The presiding magistrate, Ms T. A. Idowu, noticed that when the matter was mentioned, the defendants did not have a counsel to represent them.
Idowu, who adjourned the case till April 2 for trial, asked the defendants to get a counsel before the adjourned date.
The prosecutor, Sergeant Friday Mameh, had earlier told the court that the accused committed the offences between October 2016 and April 2018 at Wema Bank Plc, Orile Iganmu branch, Lagos.
According to him, Olawuwo used his position as an employee of the bank to fraudulently transfer the sum of N2.4m to different accounts.
The prosecutor added that the funds were transferred in tranches from different customers’ accounts to Olawuwo friends’ accounts.
Mameh noted that the second accused, Wahab, was one of Olawuwo’s friends, who received part of the funds knowing that the transaction was fraudulent.
The prosecutor further stated that Olawuwo fraudulently transferred N500,000 to Wahab from a customer’s account.
He revealed that Olawuwo transferred a total of N1.9m to one Kazeem Olarewaju, who is at large, noting that the transfer was effected on five different occasions.
Mameh stated that the funds belonged to Wema Bank Plc.
The prosecutor added that the offences contravened sections 287 (7), 365 (1) and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty and were granted bail in the sum of N1m each with two sureties each in like sum.
