LAGOS – A Lagos private school driver and music teacher were charged before an Igbosere Magistrates’ Court in Lagos on Wednesday for allegedly having unlawful carnal knowledge of an eight-year-old school girl.
The bus driver, Ibrahim Umaru, 39, and music teacher, Wisdom Akpoaereme, 33, are standing trial on a two-count charge, bordering on sexual assault.
The Prosecutor, Sgt. Peace Chukwudi, told the court that the accused committed the offences between September 2017 and March 16 and March 19, 2018 at Atlantic Bay Preparatory School in Lekki, Lagos.
“Sometime in September 2017, Umaru indecently assaulted the eight-year-old girl by forcing her to hold his sexual organ inside the school bus.
“However, on March 16, the second accused, Akpoaereme, unlawfully had carnal knowledge of the same girl inside the school music room,” the prosecutor said.
She said that the offences contravened Sections 135 (1) and 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The accused, however, denied the offences.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Section 135 (1) provides that any person who unlawfully and indecently deals with a child commits a felony and is liable to seven years imprisonment on conviction.
Section 137 provides life imprisonment for anyone who has sexual intercourse with a child.
The Magistrate, Mrs K. O. Doja-Ojo, remanded the accused in prison and ordered that the case file be transferred to the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions for legal advise.
She adjourned the case until May 9.
