A Lagos State Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court has sentenced a secondary school teacher, Peter Jacob, to life imprisonment for defiling a nine-year-old pupil with special needs.

Justice Abiola Soladoye handed down the verdict, stating that the prosecution had efficiently proven the charge of defilement against the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt.

According to the state prosecutor, Olusola Soneye, the offence occurred in 2019 at Thescol College, CMD Road, Magodo, in Ikeja, where Jacob worked. The survivor, who had dyslexia, was in the primary school section of the school, which also houses the secondary school where Jacob taught.

The convict had pleaded not guilty to the charge of defilement, which violated Section 137 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.

However, Justice Soladoye ruled that the evidence presented by the prosecution witnesses was “persuasive, compelling, and believable” and that the evidence of the defendant and the three defense witnesses, all staff of the school, were self-serving.

“The defendant was observed to be unrepentant and unremorseful,” the judge said. “The first prosecution witness (survivor) correctly identified the defendant when she gave her evidence, and the other three witnesses adequately corroborated her evidence.

The prosecution has successfully established the ingredients of the offence against the defendant. The defendant is Godless, brutally wicked and lustful, acts unbecoming of a teacher.”

The court also ordered that Jacob’s name be registered in the sexual offence register maintained by Lagos State.