A secondary school teacher, Cosmos Ubaja, was on Monday arrested by the police in Lagos State for allegedly raping a 14-year-old schoolgirl in Ikorodu area of the state.
The unnamed teenager had gone to Ubaja’s shop to make photocopies after school hours when the accused lured her into sleeping with her.
The suspect, who owns a computer centre in the area, was contracted by the school to teach the junior pupils computer studies.
According to the Punch, the victim, a Junior Secondary School, Class 3 student in a public secondary school in the Owutu area of Ikorodu, had been allegedly raped by the suspect on several occasions in eight months and was always given peanuts such as N50, N100 and N30, each time.
Ubaja, a father of one had been raping the girl for months and the girl kept the secret away from her parents.
The last straw which broke the camel’s back was on June 1 when the girl complained to her mother that she had stomach pains and her menstrual cycle was affected.
She was then taken to a private hospital where it was discovered that she had been raped several times.
The teenager confessed that it was the computer instructor who raped her and he was arrested.
The matter was reported at the Owutu Police Division and also to the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team, DSVRT, Alausa.
The DSVRT team took the victim for a checkup at the Mirabel Centre, Ikeja.
The group’s Coordinator, Lola Vivour-Adeniyi, said the matter had been transferred to the Gender Unit of the Lagos State Police Command.
According to her, “The 14-year-old girl was raped by her computer teacher near the school’s premises.
“The teacher and some individuals around the school initially pleaded with the girl’s parents not to report to the police. Fortunately, they rejected the plea.
“The perpetrator is in police custody and the case has been transferred from the division to the Gender Unit at the police headquarters, Ikeja. The Directorate of Public Prosecutions has also requested the duplicate case file.”
Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, said Ubaja has confessed to the crime and will be charged to court soon.
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