Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Lagos State Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court sitting in Ikeja has sentenced a former teacher and motorcycle operator, Nwatu Isaac, to life imprisonment for defiling an eight-year-old pupil of El-Bossaa Nursery and Primary School in Epe, Lagos State. Justice Rahman Oshodi, who delivered the judgment on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, also ordered that Isaac's name be entered into the Sexual Offenders Register maintained by the Lagos State Government, in line with Sections 33 and 38 of the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency Law, 2021. The court found Isaac guilty of defiling the child on March 10, 2022, after the prosecution established its case beyond reasonable doubt.
According to the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency, which disclosed details of the judgment in a statement on Friday, October 2, 2026, the court held that the prosecution had proved the two essential ingredients of the offence: that the survivor was a child and that Isaac had sexual intercourse with her. Isaac was prosecuted under Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015, which prescribes life imprisonment for anyone who has unlawful sexual intercourse with a child. The court rejected Isaac's denial that he went beyond the school gate on the day of the incident. The convict had claimed that he went to the school to pick up pupils he conveyed on his motorcycle but remained at the gate. Justice Oshodi, however, held that Isaac's own evidence placed him at the school at the material time, while the victim identified him as the person who took her into the toilet. The judge also dismissed his defence of alibi, noting that Isaac did not claim to have been somewhere else when the offence occurred. "On the convict's own admission, he was not at a considerable distance from the scene. He was at its gate," the judge held. "The prosecutrix's evidence places him inside the premises. The defence of alibi therefore does not avail him."
The court found the testimony of the survivor, who was nine years old when she testified, credible and consistent. She gave a clear, detailed and coherent account of how Isaac, whom she knew as "Master Isaac", sent her to the male toilet to fetch a piece of paper. When she entered the toilet, she said, Isaac pushed her inside, locked the door and sexually assaulted her. She told the court that Isaac threatened to kill her if she disclosed the incident to anyone. She further testified that she bled following the assault and that Isaac wiped the blood before sending her out of the toilet. Her account remained consistent despite lengthy cross-examination, and she identified Isaac in court. Justice Oshodi relied on corroboration from the survivor's mother, who noticed blood on her daughter's underwear and vagina shortly after she returned home from school and subsequently reported the matter. Medical evidence from the Mirabel Centre, presented by Dr Olubukola Olatunji, corroborated the evidence of penetration. The doctor found an easily dilatable introitus, an absent hymen and marked laxity of the anal sphincter, with the vaginal findings consistent with penile penetration.
The court rejected several defences advanced by Isaac's legal team, led by Anthony Agadah. The judge dismissed the argument that the absence of DNA or sperm testing weakened the prosecution's case, holding that the medical evidence sufficiently corroborated the evidence of penetration. He also rejected suggestions that the child could have been sexually abused by her stepsister, describing the claim as speculation. The court equally rejected an audio recording tendered by the defence, in which a teacher claimed the girl later described the incident as a dream. Justice Oshodi noted that the teacher had initially responded, "No, it can't," when the child first told her the allegation was true, before questioning her until she denied it. The judge held that the child's subsequent denial could not be regarded as free or reliable. A survey report intended to show that the school toilet was too small for the alleged offence to have occurred there was also dismissed. The survey was conducted more than three years after the incident, and the surveyor could not establish whether the toilet measured was the same one referred to in the allegation. The defence claim that the prosecution was motivated by tribal sentiment was rejected for lack of evidence of previous hostility between Isaac and the victim's family.
In sentencing, Justice Oshodi stressed the gravity of the offence and the abuse of trust involved. He noted that Isaac was once the survivor's teacher and was also entrusted by parents in the community to transport their children on his motorcycle. The judge held that Isaac exploited that trust to lure the child into the toilet and commit the offence. He also took into account the threat allegedly made to the child after the assault and the convict's lack of remorse. The court further directed the prosecution to take immediate steps under the Victim Assistance and Witness Protection Law, 2022, to secure whatever protection and support the survivor and her family require. The directive followed concerns raised by the victim's mother that some staff members of El-Bossaa Nursery and Primary School had allegedly intimidated her and her daughter in and around Epe. Justice Oshodi said the court had a duty to protect children and ensure that survivors of sexual violence were not further traumatised by the legal process.
The case is the latest in a series of convictions secured by the Lagos State Government against teachers and school proprietors for defiling pupils. In December 2024, Justice Oshodi sentenced a 23-year-old teacher, John Osifo, to life imprisonment for defiling an eight-year-old pupil. In May 2026, Justice Abiola Soladoye convicted and sentenced the proprietor of Nurtured Brooks Nursery and Primary School in Ibeju-Lekki, Benson Arinze, to life imprisonment for defiling a six-year-old pupil. In June 2026, a class teacher, Peter Jacob, was sentenced to life imprisonment for defiling a nine-year-old pupil with special needs. The convictions reflect a pattern of abuse within educational institutions and the vulnerability of children who are entrusted to the care of teachers and school administrators. The Lagos State Government has consistently maintained that it will not tolerate sexual violence against children and that perpetrators will face the full weight of the law. The sentencing of Nwatu Isaac to life imprisonment and the order that his name be entered into the Sexual Offenders Register underscore that commitment. For the survivor and her family, the judgment brings a measure of justice, though the trauma of the assault and the lengthy legal process will not easily fade.
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