Child allegedly raped by Chrisland School Supervisor & her Mother testify in Court

The accused, Adegboyega Adenekan

Both Child X who was allegedly raped by a supervisor in Chrisland School, VGC, and her mother testified in court against the accused Adegboyega Adenekan, NAN reports.

The child, who is now 4-years-old, was 2 years and 11 months when she told her mother she was raped by the 47-year-old school supervisor.

The child detailed her encounters with the supervisor, who she alleged touched her both in a toilet and in a hall.

She reported the man to her teacher, she said, but her teacher did not believe her.

Read a transcript of the child’s testimony according to NAN:

Justice Nwaka engaging Child X in small talk said: “I love your shoes, we are all your uncle and aunties here. Do you like the building? Do you know why you are here?”

Child X said: “I’m here to talk about the bad things Mr Adenekan did to me.”

Justice Nwaka responding said: “You know you are here to tell the truth, Jesus loves children and what do your Sunday School teachers tell you?”

Child X: “Always tell the truth.”

Prosecution: “How old are you?”

Child X: “Four”

Prosecution: “How many schools have you attended?”

Child X: “Two”

Prosecution:” What are the names of the schools?”

Child X: “Chrisland, Grange School”

Prosecution pointing across the room to Adenekan: “Do you know him?”

Child X: “No”

Prosecution: “Who is Mr Adenekan?”

Child X: “When I go to class after recess, I see Mr Adenekan after recess”

Prosecution: “What did Mr Adenekan do to you?”

Child X: “He put his mouth in my wee-wee, the first time he did that, he took me out of the class. The second time, I ran. I tried to report to my teacher but my teacher did not believe me, so I reported to my mummy.

“First time he did it was inside his office which was the toilet, the second time he did it was in the hall which was outside.

“I did not like what he did, he put his hand in my wee-wee, he put his wee-wee in my wee-wee and he put his mouth in my wee-wee.”

The prosecution at this point proceeded to show Child X three photographs, one of which was Adenekan’s.

Child X identified Adenekan’s photograph.

Child X said: “This is Mr Adenekan, I remember how he used to greet me but I don’t know where he is.”

Prosecution: “How did you feel when he was doing it to you?”

Child X: “I felt I should tell my mummy, I felt pain.”

Prosecution: “When he did it, what were you wearing?”

Child X: “My Chrisland School uniform.”

Prosecution: “Can you describe how he did it to you?”

Child X: “He put his hand under my uniform, he put his hand in my wee-wee, pull my uniform down and it was really really paining me.

“When it was really really paining me, I screamed and he covered my mouth like this (demonstrated with hand over her mouth).

“I couldn’t do anything because he covered my mouth. When I was trying to remove it (his hand) he tightened my mouth.”

Prosecution: “Describe his office”

Child X: “I cannot remember.”

The defence counsel, Mr Olatunde Adejuyigbe (SAN) opposed the tendering as evidence, the three photographs shown to Child X during proceedings. According to him, the prosecution did not comply with Section 86 of the Evidence Act.

In his submission Boye told the court that in accordance with Section 84 of the Evidence Act, photographs are no longer secondary evidence but primary evidence and as a result, the photographs should be admitted as evidence.

In a short ruling Justice Nwaka said: “I cannot agree more with the prosecution. These photographs do not have a certificate. I mark them tendered but rejected.”

While cross-examining Child X, Adejuyigbe asked her the following questions.

Defence: “Do you like to draw?”

Child X: ” I don’t know how to draw yet but I like to draw”

Defence: “You said something really really pained you, when you got home did you tell your mummy about it?”

Child X: “Yes”

Child X responding to Adejuyigbe’s questions, recalled some of her pre-school teachers at Chrisland School.

Defence: “Did anyone tell you before that he will kill you?”

Child X: “I don’t know what that means”

Defence: “Did you see Mr Adenekan today,?”

Child X: “I only saw him in the picture.”

Defence: “Do you know there are three tables in Mr Adenekan’s office? ”

Child X: “No”

Defence: “His office is not near your class, do you remember?”

Child X: “No”

Defence: “Have you entered Mr Adenekan’s office before?”

Child X: “Only when he did the bad things to me”

Defence: “Did he take anyone else with you?”

Child X: “No”

Defence: “Did you take your mummy to any corner?”

Child X: “No when I told her what happened to me, she changed my school.”

Defence: “Does your aunty (name withheld) bath for you?”

Child X: “Sometimes her but everytime my mummy.”

Defence: “Have you seen the police before?”

Child X: “I have seen them guarding the door at the gate before I enter my school gate.”

Defence: “Is there a doctor’s office at your school? ”

Child X: “Yes”

Defence: “Do you go to the toilet alone in school? ”

Child X: “When I want to go by myself they (teachers) still follow me”

Defence: “Did anyone tell you what to say when you get here?”

Child X: “No”

The mother of the child also gave her testimony in court, describing how she came to realise her child was allegedly abused.

The mother’s testimony reportedly took 4 hours, with her weeping as she spoke.

A transcript of her testimony as provided by NAN read:

She was two years and 11 months old when she mentioned it to me, I do not know for how long it has happened before she mentioned it, she was in Pre-school Two at the time but she started the school from creche.

I know the defendant, when my daughter was in pre-school one, her class teacher will tell me that the defendant had come to her class to say hello to my child or that she was crying and he was the only one who could placate her.

I did not know him physically at the time but I knew his name. He followed her for a whole year from pre-school one to pre-school two and still went to her class.

When I mentioned it to her pre-school teacher that this is what my daughter has said, she said she thought we were family friends, he was not even a supervisor in nursery, he was a supervisor in the primary section.

I did not even know him, I met him only once or twice on the road within the school because my daughter ran to greet him once

A few weeks before November 10, 2016, I bought and read Pastor Nomthi Odukoya’s book titled ‘No Don’t Touch Me There’. She wrote about how to guard our children against sexual abuse.

On November 10, 2016 I picked her up from school and we were at home, I took her to the restroom and while helping her to pull up her trouser, I casually said do not let anybody touch your wee-wee.

Nothing prepared me for the response I got because normally I thought I was making a statement and she will say “Okay Mummy”, but the next thing she said was “he (the defendant) put his wee-wee in my wee-wee,”

The first thing I did was to try to call my husband who was out of the country, he didn’t pick and I sent him a whatsApp message that our daughter has been abused.

The next thing I did was call her class teacher and I said that this baby said that she has been abused, has she been taken out of class? She can identify her abuser.

The class teacher said no, I called another teacher in senior management who was like a mother to me at the time, I told her and she said the defendant cannot do it, he is a pastor.

The following day, I took my daughter to school at 11. 00 a.m. and ironically as we were entering the school, we saw him (the defendant).

I still remember the conversation, the defendant saw my daughter and said I have been to your class this morning but you weren’t there.

I saw a cleaner and I remember clearly what she said, she said the love between your daughter and this man is like this (linking her index fingers together in demonstration).

The mother said her daughter was taken to a paediatrician at Heritage Hospital, Badore Road, Ikoyi, to confirm if indeed she had been abused.

The doctor examined her and said that there was redness in her private part, that it had been damaged.

At night I took her to the house of the supervisor who was like a mother to me and I told her everything and we wondered what to do.

I decided to keep it hush hush, I said I needed to talk to him, warn him off, she did not have his number then, we got his number and I called him.

I told him this is the girl’s mother, she has told me that you have been sexually abusing her, stop threatening her and he replied that I have heard all you have said.

I wish I had recorded the conversation, I said you have to stop, if you do not stop, I will have to report to the school and he said even if you report, nobody will believe you and in truth they did not.

I cut the call and sent him a message in which I said do not forget everything that I said when you see her wave at her.

The mother said she asked the class teacher if her child had been taken out of class, and the class teacher insisted she hadn’t.

The mother said she spoke to the headteacher, the deputy headteacher and five other teachers of Chrisland School and a decision was reached to take Child X to the school’s medical doctor.

We went to the school’s doctor on Monday and when she examined her, she (the doctor) said as far as she is concerned, there is no evidence of abuse.

The school’s doctor gave my child a piece of paper and said can you draw his private part, that was the first day that she drew a private part, the teachers were there.

I did not know she could draw talkless of drawing a private part,

My husband asked if [Adenekan]  was willing to submit himself to a lie detector test and he agreed, we were thinking of going out of the country because we were wondering if it was done in Nigeria, we found out Halogen Securities did it in Lagos.

When we went to the Ikeja office of Halogen Securities, the defendant was late for the appointment.

He was asked three questions including did you have any sexual contact with the girl? and did you fondle the girl?

He said no to the three questions and the test found out that he was lying.

Mrs Adeyemi, the top management of the school started calling me saying that they are investigating and that we should not worry.

I waited and waited and I didn’t hear from them, I called my aunt and she advised me to go to the Office of the Public Defender (OPD) that the OPD will not hush it up.

At the OPD, I told them what my daughter told me, I went to Area F, Police Station, Ikeja with my daughter to give a statement.

The police officers were all putting their hands on their heads when they were hearing her talk, she just kept talking, it was like a fountain had opened.

The mother said she and her daughter took the police to the school, where her daughter showed the police Adenekan’s office and a toilet.

She revealed that her child was also examined by doctors and a psychologist at the Mirabel Centre.

Child X’s mother said that she initially wanted to cover up the alleged rape, noting that she was ostracised by the school.

I wanted to cover it up, wait till the end of term to withdraw my children, I was scared of victim shaming, the press and stigmatisation.

There was a circular sent to parents except me for the attendance of a PTA meeting and all sorts was said about me, I was accused of attention seeking.

I, however, decided to not cover it up for two reasons — First was my daughter, the defendant had threatened her that she was going to die, everyone in her family were going to die if she told anyone.

When she realised she did not die after the initial revelation, she started opening up to me, she told me how he used to put his mouth on her, show her pornography, tell her and her friends to play with each other and so many other things.

The second reason was my husband, though he was not around, he said we are lucky enough that she found her language early.

What of other children that cannot talk? What of others that told their parents and they did not believe them, he said for the reason of the other children, we must talk.

After it happened, my daughter will talk about it 20 about times a day, it trickled down to 10 times a day and now it is now once or twice a week, she is healing and she will heal.

The only place I’m not with my children is at school, I don’t go for parties, once my children are having fun I’m having fun.

After I had my first daughter, I quit my job, I did not hire a driver because I did not want my children to be abused, I never left them alone except in school.

There was no cause for concern, the school is supposed to be a safe place.

The totality of my account is based on what my daughter said, I believe my daughter.

It is wrong that my children were in school till Christmas 2016, the reason why my children stayed that long in the school was that they said they were a child conscious school and I bought into the lie.

The older one left after two weeks, the younger one left after six days, I did not notify the school before I withdrew them but definitely not one month alleged by the press.

I withdrew my children for the two reasons — The first was Chrisland said they were going to fire the defendant but I later found out that he was not sacked but transferred to the Ikeja branch of the school.

Second, they promised to fire the class teacher that was careless but they did not