MICHAEL AKINOLA
A 43-year old school teacher, Austine Balogun, has landed in trouble in Lagos State along with a student, Akintunde Funminiyi, 17, for allegedly engaging a 9-year old girl in sex severally before it was exposed by the victim.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that both the teacher, Balogun and the student, Funminiyi, have been arrested and charged for defilement.
According to the Police, the victim revealed that the suspects including an 11-year old boy had been having sex with her but she kept it to herself and did not tell her parents about it.
Thus, when the information leaked to her parents, the father went to the Oke-Odo Police Division and reported the matter. The suspects were then arrested and transferred to the Gender Section of the State Police Command for further investigation over the matter.
After interrogation, the Police found them culpable and charged them before the Ogba Magistrate Court for the alleged offence which attracts several years of imprisonment.
The charges read:
That you, Austine Davies ‘m’ sometime in April 2024, at Balogun Crescent, Off Katangowa, Oke-Odo Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did defile the victim by having forceful carnal knowledge of her and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 137 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.”
COUNT II: That you, Akintunde Funminiyi ‘m’, sometimes in 2023, Lomuwa Street, Ile-Epo Bus Stop, Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did defile the victim by having forceful carnal knowledge of her and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 137 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.”
The Court did not take their plea when they were arraigned after the prosecutor, Inspector John Iberedem, asked the Court to refer the matter to the DPP for legal advice because of the nature of the alleged offence.
The Presiding Magistrate, Mrs. Ex. Kubenije, ordered the first defendant to be remanded in correctional center at Kirikiri town, Lagos, while the second defendant should be moved to juvenile home pending the outcome of the DPP’s advice.
The matter was adjourned for mention for the report of the DPP’s advice to be ready, which will determine if the matter will be transferred to the High Court or not over jurisdiction.