CYRIACUS IZUEKWE
“You are morally bankrupt and an embarrassment to the Islamic faith. What an Islamic teacher, who took undue advantage of poor students in Islam and messed around with their purity and dignity.”
P.M.EXPRESS reports that it was the submission of Justice Abiola Soladoye of the Ikeja Sexual offences and Domestic Violence Court on Tuesday, who sentenced an Islamic cleric, Adam Farouk, to life imprisonment for defiling eight pupils in his class, aged between 6 and 11 as at the time of the offence.
Justice Soladoye held that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt the ingredients of the eight-count charge bordering on sexual assault by penetration and the Court did not fall for his lies as the evidence of the pupils were corroborated as they identified the cleric as their teacher, who defiled them.
Justice Soladoye also held that the evidence of the 10th prosecution witness, who is a midwife with Women at Risk International Foundation (WARIF), Oluchi Nwoke-Okoi, revealed that the pupils had vaginal injuries.
The Judge also held that the defendant asked the pupils to turn their backs while he defiled them one-by-one.
She said: ”The demeanour of the defendant is nothing to write home about, his stony face appears mischievous, he is extremely unkind and ruthless, fingering his students with his index fingers”.
”He is meant to teach his students morals, discipline and values, but alas, the reverse is the case.
The dignity and safety of our students must be cherished. Dirty Islamic teacher of his kind must be locked away and be made to pay for his dirty sexual indiscretions.”
The Judge called on the Lagos State Government to adequately monitor educational institutions.
She also urged Muslim communities to regularly visit Islamic schools unannounced and get feedback firsthand from students and parents on the activities and conducts of their teachers.
”The need for this can never be over-emphasised in view of the rampant scenes of this heinous crime.
”I salute the courage of the survivors for speaking up against the defendant without any fear of intimidation.”
”Abused children are to be encouraged to speak up so that their assailants will be shamed and sanctioned accordingly.
A teacher is a role model, setting the pace and leading by example as he is expected to impact knowledge and morals, but this defendant is nothing of such as he threw caution to the wind and messed around.”
”Reviewing the testimonies of each of the prosecution witnesses and that of the sole defence witness, I am convinced beyond reasonable doubt that the prosecution has proved the case beyond reasonable doubt.”
”The defendant is hereby convicted of all the charges and sentenced to life imprisonment on each of the eight counts, but the sentences shall run concurrently,” Justice Soladoye said.
The Judge also ordered that the convict’s name be written in the Sexual Offenders Register of Lagos State.
The Prosecution presented 10 witnesses during the trial while they the defendant testified as the only defence witness.
The prosecution submitted that the convict committed the offences from November 2018 to February 2019 on Balogun Street, Parkview Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos.
The offences contravene Section 261 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015 and was found guilty as charged and sentenced accordingly.