A Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos
has dismissed the suit challenging the 60-year sentence of Adegboyega Adenekan,
a former Supervisor of the Chrisland School convicted of defiling a two-year
and 11-month old pupil of the school.
The three-man panel led by Justice
Mohammad Garba, while delivering the judgment on the appeal unanimously
affirmed the judgment of the lower court held that Adenekan’s appeal lacked
merit.
It would be recalled that, an Ikeja
Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court presided over by Justice Sybil
Nwaka had on Oct. 24, 2019 convicted and sentenced Adenekan to 60-years
imprisonment for defiling the pupil of Chrisland school.
Delivering the judgment, Justice
Nwaka had said that Adenekan abused the trust of children in his care as well
as the trust of their parents.
“This defendant is conscienceless,
wicked, an animal and is not fit to walk the streets. I hereby sentence Adegboyega
Adenekan to 60-years in prison this is the sentence of the court,” she said.
Following Adenekan’s sentencing, his
defence counsel, Mr Olatunde Adejuyigbe (SAN) however, filed an appeal
challenging the validity of the entire judgment.
The prosecution for Lagos State
Government led by Mr Jide Boye in their response to the appeal, maintained that
Adenekan committed the offence and that the High Court was just in sentencing
the convict.
Adenekan was arraigned before the
court on Jan. 29, 2018 and had pleaded not guilty to a charge of defilement.
The prosecution led by Boye had said
that Adenekan committed the offence sometime in November 2016 at Chrisland
School, VGC, Lagos.
The prosecution had alleged that
Adenekan had defiled the toddler by having unlawful sexual intercourse with
her, which contravenes Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
During the trial at the High Court,
seven witnesses including the pupil and her mother testified for the
prosecution.
The pupil who was four-years old
when she testified on March 22, 2018, had narrated to the court how Adenekan
had defiled her.
“He put his mouth in my wee-wee, the
first time he did that, he took me out of the class, the second time, I ran.
“I tried to report to my teacher but
my teacher did not believe me, so I reported to my mummy.
“First time he did it was inside his
office which was the toilet, the second time he did it was in the hall which
was outside.
“I did not like what he did, he put
his hand in my wee-wee, he put his wee-wee in my wee-wee and he put his mouth
in my wee-wee,” the pupil said.
The prosecution closed its case on
March 14, 2019.
Five witnesses, including Adenekan
and the head teacher of the nursery arm of the Chrisland School, testified for
defence.
The defence closed its case at the
High Court on June 26, 2019
