A six-year-old pupil at a Quranic school was alleged to have been sexually molested by her 24-year-old teacher, Mosediq Toheeb, in the Somolu area of Lagos State. Toheeb is currently remanded by a Yaba Chief Magistrates’ Court.
Toheeb is also alleged to be a final year student of the University of Lagos.
The Magistrate, Patrick Nwaka, remanded the defendant who was arraigned on two counts of sexual violation preferred against him by the state Police command.
The Police prosecutor, Thomas Nurudeen, told the court that the incident happened on May 7, 2023 at the University of Lagos Central Mosque and it was the second time he had reportedly assaulted the child.
The court heard that on the day of the incident, the victim’s mother noticed blood stains on her child’s clothes when she returned home from the Arabic school.
The mother mentioned that when asked what happened, her daughter told her that her class teacher took her to a separate classroom, tied her mouth and hands and defiled her, with a stern warning that she should not tell anybody.
According to the prosecutor, the offences committed are punishable under Sections 261 and 137 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.
The charge reads in part, “That you, Mosediq Toheeb, on May 7, 2023, around 4pm at UNILAG Central Mosque, in the Yaba Magisterial District, did sexually assault one six-year-old female (name withheld), who lives at No. 26, Femi Adebule Street, Fola Agoro, in the Somolu area of Lagos, by inserting your finger into her vagina and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 261 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2015.”
Nurudeen prayed the court to remand the defendant for 30 days pending legal advice from the Directorate of Public Prosecution.
Toheeb’s lawyer, Patrick Onochie, pleaded with the court to consider the defendant who he claimed was a final year student of the University of Lagos and would be starting his final examinations in two weeks.
Magistrate Nwaka did not take the plea of the defendant but ordered that he should be remanded.
He said there was no document before the court to show that the defendant was a student and in his final year or about to begin an examination.
He ordered that the case file be duplicated and sent to the Director of Public Prosecution for legal advice and copies of his school documents attached to the case file.
He adjourned the case till June 19, 2023.
