Proprietor bags 10-year imprisonment for raping 10-year-old pupil

An Ado Ekiti High Court yesterday sentenced a randy school proprietor, Mr. Babatunde Ibitoye, to 10 years imprisonment for raping a 10-year-old pupil of his school.

Ibitoye, owner of God’s Grace Nursery and Primary School, located at Fayemi Market, Agric Olope area of Ajilosun in Ado Ekiti, committed the offence on June 10, 2013. Subsequently, the state Ministry of Justice had through a suit No.
HAD/F11/2013 preferred a one-count charge of rape against the accused person on December 3, 2013.

Delivering her judgment, Justice Toyin Abodunde, agreed with the evidence of the plaintiff in the case, saying she was able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant had sexually abused the victim, who was her pupil as at the time the offence was committed.

The judge said that she agreed with the averment of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) and the victim’s evidence to the effect that the defendant was caught at the scene of the incident and could not have denied knowledge of the offence.

She said: “I rely heavily on the evidence of the victim that the defendant had been having sexual relationship with her before he was caught. Some of the teachers even gave evidence that she bled profusely a few days before that time, which further confirmed that she had been sexually abused.

“The fact that the defendant was caught pants down was suffice to prove that the accused person committed the offence contrary to Section 31(c) of the Ekiti State Child Rights Law 2013 and he is hereby sentenced to 10 years imprisonment without any option of fine.”

Ibitoye was caught on June 10, 2013 in a bush near Fayemi Market, where he sexually abused the victim under the guise that he was taking her home after the school hours. On that day, Ibitoye was said to have carried about four pupils in his bus and drove towards a bushy area near the market to excrete, but he entered the bush with the victim.

Before then, he had sent other pupils on different errands in order to lure the pupil into the bush for his evil plan. But unknown to him, some auto technicians operating within the vicinity had suspected the movement and immediately tip-toed towards the bush where they caught the convict having carnal knowledge of the pupil.

He was apprehended by the people and handed over to the police at Ologede station in Ado Ekiti for onward transfer to the police headquarters for prosecution. The first punitive measure taken against him by former Governor Kayode Fayemi’s administration was the immediate closure of his school. It has remained shut till date.

The chairperson, Federation of International Female Lawyers, Mrs. Rita Ilevbaren, who commended the judgment, urged rape victims to always speak out, saying silence would not help their cause.

She lauded the state Ministry of Justice and the victim’s parents for diligent prosecution of the case, describing it “as a landmark in the battle against rampancy of rape in the state.”