52-year-old proprietor in court for raping 5-year-old pupil in Lagos

A 52-year-old school teacher, Isaac Ikiabeke, was on Monday arraigned before Yaba Chief Magistrate Court by the Lagos State Police Command for allegedly raping a 5-year-old pupil in the Ikorodu area.

Ikiabeke, who is the proprietor of Brighter Glory School, situated on Etunrere Street in Ikorodu area of the state, was said to have defiled the 5-year-old after school hours.

Narrating her ordeal, the 5-year-old said the accused defiled her 10 times.
She averred, “He has been doing it for some time. He has done it more than 10 times. I am not the only one. He does it with some of us after school hours. I could not tell anybody because he said if I did, he would beat me.”

The victim’s grandfather, while reacting to the incident, expressed shock and disappointment in Ikiabeke, who he regarded as a responsible man, adding that he got wind of the sexual assault through some of the victim’s classmates.

“Pat and her younger sister stay with me and they attend the school. I never suspected anything initially, except that I observed she would be holding her stomach and turning on the bed and when I asked her what happened, she would say she was having stomachache.


“It was one of her classmates that told me what the school owner had been doing to her and I quickly went to report at the station, after which he was arrested,” he said.

Pat has since been taken to the hospital for treatment.

Ikiabeke was brought before a Yaba Chief Magistrates’ Court on one count of unlawful sexual intercourse

The charge reads, “That you, Isaac Ikiabeke, on June 9, 2015, at about 3pm, at Brighter Glory School, Etunrere Street, Ikorodu, Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did have unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, aged five years and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 258 (1) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2011.”

When the charge was read, the 52-year-old however pleaded not guilty while asking the court for summary trial.

In her ruling, the Chief Magistrate, Mrs. A.O. Soladoye, said the offence was bailable thereby granting the accused bail in the sum of N1m with two sureties in like sum.

Soladoye said, “One of the sureties must be a school proprietor or proprietress, while the second surety must be a serving civil servant of Grade Level 17.”