Teacher dies after protest against pupil’s rape

A 53-year-old teacher, Mrs. Folasade Ademosu, has died in Abesan Estate, in the Ipaja area of Lagos State, days after one of the pupils in her class was allegedly raped by the school bus driver.

The four-year-old nursery two pupil of the Baptist Nursery and Primary School, Ipaja, Bolu (pseudonym), was allegedly raped by the suspect, identified as Yemi Adesina, inside the classroom on Thursday, September 17.

According to Punch newspaper, angry residents had stormed the school on Akinola Road, Oja bus stop, Ipaja, the following day, and vandalised property, saying the school allegedly shielded the suspect.

The mob, which caused confusion on the premises, reportedly injured Adeshina before policemen from the Ipaja division arrested the suspect and some of the attackers.

It was learnt that in the ensuing violence, the 53-year-old, who was said to have pre-existing medical conditions, fell to the ground.

It was gathered that Folasade, who was invited by the police in Ipaja, and at the State Department of Criminal Investigation, Yaba, for questioning, slumped on September 24, in her apartment ─ Block 68, Abesan Estate.

She was said to have died while being rushed to the hospital.

Our correspondent learnt that the victim, who reportedly bled for about a week after the rape, had been withdrawn from the school by her parents.

It was gathered that she had been enrolled in a new school, while the suspect had been transferred to the SDCI, for further investigation.

When Punch visited the teacher’s apartment on Wednesday, the deceased’s husband, Alhaji Ademosu, said the protesters injured his wife, adding that the school authorities should have rushed her to a hospital immediately after the incident.

He said, “Since the day of that incident, she had been complaining about her stomach. It was not easy that a woman of her age fell during the commotion. I expected that she would be taken to a hospital, and not a police station.

“On Sallah day, she kept on complaining about her body. She might have sustained some internal injuries. While the Sallah festivities went on, she just slumped and that was it. We rushed her to the hospital, but she died on the way.”

The pupil’s grandmother, Mrs. T. Ajose, told our correspondent that the school authorities allegedly refused to give her attention the following day when she went to report Bolu’s rape.

She said, “The girl turned four years on September 9; she had been attending the school since she was a year and six months old. It was when I went to pick her on that day that I observed that she looked moody. When I asked her what the matter was, she simply told me, ‘Grandma, I don’t want to go to that school again’. I did not understand what was going on.

“Later, when we got to the church, she said she wanted to excrete, and I observed that her faeces were stained with blood. I initially thought she had an infection, and cleaned her up, giving her a new pant. She was still moody; she would not eat and drink. Minutes later, her pant was soaked with blood again.

“That was when I raised the alarm and people in the church gathered round the two of us. We persuaded her to explain to us what happened. She said, ‘It was Uncle Yemi. He said I should not tell anybody. He put me on the table. And he covered my eyes and mouth. He put something in my bum bum.’ The following day when I got to the school, none of the teachers paid attention.”

The grandma added that when policemen came to the school for interrogation, the girl insisted that it was Adesina who allegedly raped her.

She said, “After I reported the matter to the police, the Divisional Police Officer accompanied us to the school. He ordered all the male workers in the school to form a queue, and he interrogated the girl. She pointed at Yemi (Adesina) immediately. The DPO did that four times, and she pointed at the same person.

“So the driver was arrested and detained at the station, but he kept claiming that he had not even seen the girl before. He said she lied against him. The police said the matter would be charged to court last Monday. As it is, we have taken Bolu to another school. She cannot continue to endure the trauma.”

Our correspondent learnt from a resident that it was Adesina’s alleged denial of the rape that infuriated the mob which attacked the school.