The Lagos State Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja has sentenced a teacher identified as Idowu Daniel to seven years imprisonment for sexually assaulting his 16-year-old student within the school premises.
The 31-year-old convict was charged with defilement of a minor.
In her judgement on Monday, Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo, held that the prosecution failed to establish the charge of defilement against the convict, as the victim failed to show up in court to testify.
She said the confessional statement of the defendant, which was made voluntarily, showed that he sexually assaulted the minor.
“The defendant admitted to have fondled the breast of the victim twice and tried to have sex with her but he could not penetrate as she was a virgin.
“The defendant is hereby convicted on the charge of sexual assault of a child,” she said.
In his allocutous, the convict pleaded for mercy when he was asked if he had anything to say.
“My lord, I am very sorry for what happened. I promise it will not happen again,” the convict told the court.
The judge also lambasted Daniel for touching the victim in a suggestive way, adding that he would have gotten life imprisonment if the minor had testified in court.
“You are a teacher and you were touching the breast of your student. You would have gone for life imprisonment if the victim had come to court to testify,” the judge said.
Justice Taiwo, who had earlier sentenced the convict to five years imprisonment, however, increased his jail term to seven years without an option of fine after saying that he had been in custody for three years.
The convict, who lives at Abule-Egba area of Lagos State, was charged and tried for defilement.
Daniel was 28 years old when he committed the offence on June 27, 2019, at about 9.25am.
He unlawfully had carnal knowledge of his student in the biology laboratory at Anastasia Comprehensive College, Abule Egba.
He was remanded in Kirikiri prison in July 2019, by Chief Magistrate Olufunke Sule-Amzat.