The Lagos State Police Command has arraigned a 52-year-old school teacher, Isaac Ikiabeke, for allegedly raping a five-year-old pupil in the Ikorodu area of the state. PUNCH Metro gathered that Ikiabeke, who is also the proprietor of the school, Brighter Glory School, located on Etunrere Street, raped his victim after school hours. The victim, five-year-old Pat (pseudonym), told our correspondent the father of three had allegedly raped her 10 times. Punch Metro reports:
She said, “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 explained to our correspondent that his attention was drawn to the sexual assault by some of Pat’s classmates. He said he was shocked, as well as disappointed in Ikiabeke, whom he regarded as a respectable person.
He said, “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 belly 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.”
Our correspondent was also told that the matter was brought to the attention of the Lagos State Office of the Public Defender. A police source told PUNCH Metro that the police got complaints from two victims. He said a three-year-old pupil, who was equally raped by the suspect, was in a critical condition in a hospital.
