Esther Salifu
The Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court has convicted and sentenced Oladosu Sakiru, an Arabic teacher, to 21 years in prison for attempting to sexually assault a 13-year-old female pupil .
Justice Rahman Oshodi, the trial judge, sentenced Sakiru following his guilty plea to the amended two counts of attempted sexual assault by penetration and indecent treatment of a child.
In his judgment, Oshodi reprimanded Sakiru for breaching the trust placed in him by the parents of the survivor, saying, “As an imam and an Arabic school teacher, you occupy a position of significant trust… You betrayed this trust in the most deplorable manner.”
The court found that Sakiru subjected the survivor to inappropriate touching and forced himself on her, demonstrating a pattern of predatory behavior. When confronted with his actions, Sakiru claimed it was “the work of the devil.”
Sakiru was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment on count one and seven years jail term on count two, with the jail terms to run consecutively. His name will also be registered in the Lagos State Sexual Offences Register.
The defence counsel had prayed for leniency, citing Sakiru’s status as a first-time offender with two wives to care for. However, the state prosecution counsel argued for a stricter sentence, given the severity of the offences committed between February and March 2022.
