Two teachers jailed 22 years each “to serve as a warning and deterrent to others”
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
An Ekiti High Court has sentenced two teachers to 22 years in prison each without an option of fine for raping two teenage female students in their care.
Prosecutor Kunle-Shina Adeyemi told the court in Ado Ekiti on Tuesday that Gbenga Ajibola and Olaofe Ayodele were arraigned on 2 March 2022 on three counts involving rape and abuse of office.
He said the defendants sometimes in November 2019 in Ado-Ekiti raped two female students aged 17 and 15 years respectively, names withheld.
According to him, the offence contravenes Section 31(2) of the Childs Right Law, Cap. C7, Laws of Ekiti State, 2012.
One of the victims recounted in court that Ajibola was her computer teacher who always disturbed her in class.
She narrated how, “on this fateful day, he told me to be in mufti and gave me N200 to go and wait for him in front of a filling station along Bank Road.
“He later came there alongside Mr Olaofe, but before they came, one of my classmates also met me there, she told me that Mr Olaofe asked her to wait here for him.
“When they came, we all left for a hotel, around Oke-Ila area of Ado Ekiti. On getting there, we were taken to different rooms where Mr Ajibola had sexual intercourse with me.
“After that day, he continued to disturb me. When I could no more bear it, I narrated what happened to my mother who later took the matter up.”
The prosecutor called four witnesses and tendered statements of the victims and defendants, medical reports, as well as report of a panel of enquiry, among others, as exhibits.
Counsel to the defendants, Lawrence Fasanmi, called six witnesses to prove his case.
Judge Adeniyi Familoni said the defendants seared their minds and mulled the voice of conscience as they took advantage of the victims with reckless abandon.
“They deserve severe penal sanction for their misdeeds to serve as a warning and deterrent to others who may want to follow their footsteps,” he ruled.
The Judge sentenced Ajibola and Ayodele to 20 years in prison each without an option of fine on count one and two years each on count two without option of fine.
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