A 47-year-old school supervisor, Adegboyega Adenekan, on Tuesday denied defiling a two-year and 11-month-old pupil, a charge he is facing before an Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Adenekan, a supervisor of the Chrisland School, Victoria Garden City, Lagos State, opened his defence on Tuesday.
He was led in evidence by his counsel, Mr Olatunde Adejuyigbe (SAN).
Adenekan testified that he had a unblemished 23 years’ reputation in educating children, adding that he had never been accused of child defilement.
“My lord, the man before you is a decent and responsible man; I am good at what I do, which is teaching children excellently.
“I have put in my best in touching the lives of children in every school that I have taught.
“I am bright and intelligent; it is only a person with a devilish mind that will do that to a two-year-old. Children are to be protected,” he told the court.
He said that he believed in moral values.
” I believe it, I teach and preach it in church.
“When this accusation came to light, it was very shocking and embarrassing to me.
Adenekan said that he had been married for 18 years and was blessed with two teenagers.
” I have my wife seated here in court,” he said.
He testified that he had never exposed his manhood to the two-year-old.
“I don’t have any private or personal relationship with her, her friends or any child, either in the nursery and primary section of the school.
“I did not see the drawing of the manhood the complainant made.
“My lord, I have never exposed myself to the complainant to see my manhood; that is for her and her mother to explain.
“It is not correct that I threatened the complainant that if she told anyone, I would kill her, kill her sister and kill her parents,” Adenekan said.
Earlier, he recalled that on Nov. 11, 2016, the child’s mother called him on phone and accused him of defiling her daughter.
“She identified herself as the child’s mother, and she said, `Mr Adenekan, you have sexually abused my daughter.’ I responded, `Where, when, how?’
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“She said, `I just want it to be between the two of us; don’t tell anyone.’
“I told her that what she alleged, I did not know anything about it and did not abuse anyone sexually,” the defendant said, adding that the woman thereafter ended the phone call.
He testified that the woman later sent him a text message in which she told him that she would want him to remain friendly with her daughter.
“I was wondering within me what she was up to; I could not sleep that night and I told my wife what happened,” he said.
Adenekan told the court that the following day, the child’s father called him on phone and made a similar accusation.
According to the defendant, the child’s father said that he was a public relations expert, and threatened to use his expertise to deal with him.
The defendant said he then informed the school authorities and was asked to wait until the following Monday for the authorities to look into the allegation since the child’s father called him on a Saturday.
He said: “The same day, I got a call from Mrs Modebe, the Head Teacher of Chrisland Nursery School. She said that it was reported to her that I defiled the child. I told her that I did not defile anyone.
“That same day, Mrs Bayo Olupohunda, the Supervisor of the nursery school, also said same. I told them that I did not do it and that the allegation was strange and shocking.
“On Monday, I and some school management members had a meeting with the complainant’s mother, where she alleged that I defiled her daughter as her daughter told her.
“Mrs Modebe told her to explain how it happened. She could not explain; she just said her daughter told her.
“She said that she had taken her daughter to Heritage Specialist Hospital where it was confirmed that her child had been abused. The head teacher said that the child should be taken to the school clinic for confirmation.”
He said the complainant’s mother initially objected to the medical examination at the school clinic but after persuasion from the school authorities and her husband, she agreed, and the child was taken for tests.
He said that the parents of the child also insisted that he should take a polygraph (lie detector) test to ascertain if he was being truthful.
Adenekan said that he was informed that he failed the polygraph test which was conducted by an official of Halogen Securities.
“It is not true I failed the polygraph test. I believe the polygraph test was manipulated which was orchestrated by the complainant’s mother and the official of Halogen Securities for their evil agenda,” he said.
Following Adenekan’s evidence, Justice Sybil Nwaka revoked his bail for a day to ensure his attendance for cross-examination on Wednesday.
“I am revoking your bail today to guarantee your presence in court and for your own security. We have got to a critical point in this trial.
“This case has been moving on smoothly and I do not want anything to truncate it.
“For 100 per cent assurance that he will be in court tomorrow, upon conclusion of the defendant’s evidence-in-chief, I order that he be remanded in the Kirikiri Prisons.
“This case is adjourned until June 26 for the defendant’s cross-examination,” Nwaka said.
NAN reports that Adenekan, who was arraigned on Jan. 29, 2018, pleaded not guilty to a charge of child defilement.
The prosecution alleges that Adenekan committed the offence sometime in November 2016 at Chrisland School, Victoria Garden City, Lagos.
According to the prosecution, the defendant defiled the child by having sexual intercourse with her.
NAN reports that child defilement contravenes Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011, which recommends up to life imprisonment for anyone convicted of the offence. (NAN)