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Summary
Igwe Ngozi, a 61-year-old teacher, has been sentenced to 14 years in prison and placed on the sex offenders register for sexually assaulting a seven-year-old pupil.
Igwe Ngozi, a 61-year-old teacher, has been sentenced to 14 years in prison by Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Lagos Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court in Ikeja for sexually assaulting a seven-year-old child.
He will be registered as a sex offender and serve his sentence in the place he has been held during his trial.
The judge sentenced and convicted Igwe Ngozi after finding him guilty as he pleaded to an amended one-count charge brought against him by the state government. The charge bordered on sexual assault by penetration.
The prosecution claimed that the defendant, in February 2019, at Linsey Nursery and Primary School at Igbo-Efon Alpha Beach Road, Lekki, Lagos, attempted to assault a seven-year-old girl by penetrating her vagina with his finger.
However, he was initially charged with one count of sexual assault by penetration, which is punishable by life imprisonment, but approached the prosecution for a plea bargain.
The survivor’s mother testified that the incident occurred one day when she observed that her daughter’s pants were messy and that she had been complaining of lower abdominal pain.
She told the court that her daughter said her class teacher had been inserting his finger into her vagina, and that each time he did that, she became scared and sometimes screamed.
While delivering judgment yesterday, Justice Oshodi held that,
“The first charge is punishable by life imprisonment. However, through the plea bargain process, you have pleaded guilty to this lesser charge, and I am bound to sentence you according to the agreed terms.”
He also noted that Igwe betrayed his duty as a class teacher by abusing a seven-year-old child and causing the survivor psychological trauma.
The court therefore found him guilty and sentenced him to 14 years imprisonment. Igwe Ngozi sentence will begin from the date he was remanded in custody.
Igwe Ngozi’s conviction is one of many disturbing cases of male violence against girls and women in Nigeria, where rape and sexual abuse remain widespread. Naija Feminists Media has consistently reported on such cases, including several incidents of paedophilia and sexual assault here and here.
