Admin l Wednesday, Nov 28, 2018
IKEJA, Lagos, Nigeria – A prosecution witness, Adebayo Falola on Tuesday affirmed before an Ikeja Sexual Offences Court that the results of the polygraph test carried out on a supervisor of Chrisland Schools, Adegboyega Adenekan accused of defiling a two year old pupil indicated he was deceptive. He had previously affirmed that globally poligraph tests are 99.9 percent accurate.
“The defendant was not being truthfull when he denied allegation of sexual molestation” of the two years old girl(names withheld), having scored -9 in the Lie Detection Test”, he said. He also affirmed that he has conducted over 250 polygraph tests for financial institutions in Nigeria and that the polygraph test is 99.9 percent accurate and that he followed all ethical rules. He said Adenekan Adegboyega(defendant) voluntarily submitted himself for the test in the presence of two representatives of the school, with a letter of consent, and the mother of the victim and her uncle.
Falola, a polygraph expert who was led in evidence by Lagos State Prosecutor, B. T Boye, told the court that the polygraph test was to determine Adenekan’s countenance when he was asked questions regarding the defilement which took place in his office. However, Falola, an employee of Halogen Securities was however queried by Adenekan’s counsel, Olatunde Adejuyigbe, as to the indices to which he used to observe Adenekan, the witness said he could not recall.
“I can’t tell you for now. All I know is that the reading of the polygraph test carried out on Adenekan showed that the answers were deceptive,” Falola said. Adenekan, 47, a supervisor of Chrisland Schools was accused of defiling a two year old pupil of the school several times. The matter came to light when the child’s mother was teaching her about her sexual organs and the child opened up that ‘Mr Adenekan’s had been touching her ‘wee-wee’ and also asking her to touch his private sexual organ.
On Tuesday, Falola was called as a prosecution witness. Also testifying before the court, a Police investigator in the Juvenile Welfare Center, DSP. Ayanleye Adenike, of the Ikeja Division, identified Adenekan.
“On the 23rd of November, 2016, we received a petition from the Office of the Public Defender. We invited the defendant immediately we got the petition. But when we got to the school, we were told that he was in a meeting. The next day, the victim’s mother, the victim and Adenekan visited the station where we took all their statements. When the child saw Mr. Adenekan, she ran to him and hugged him. She said, “Mr. Adenekan is a good man and I like him,” but her mother pulled her away.
“The child’s mother told the DPO that she detected the abuse on the 10th of November but only decided to report the matter to the police on the 23rd. She also added that as soon as she found out that her child had been defiled, she took her to the hospital and also to a psychologist. We also visited the scene of the crime. When we got to the school, the victim took us to the defendant’s office. She was able to point to the defendant’s table and chair. She even showed us the restroom in the office where he defiled her. Afterwards the child was taken to Mirabel Centre where she was examined,” the witness said.
Adenike told the court her findings after the conclusion of the investigation: She said the case of defilement was established. “The defendant actually abused the child, also in the course of my investigation, there was no other Adenekan Adegboyega in the school. The defendant is the only one that bears such name. The child was not tutored on what to say. She gave her testimony innocently. Lastly, the defendant made me to understand that he had never placed the child on his lap, that all he did was to wave at her. Justice Nwaka thereafter adjourned the matter until January 30, 2019 for continuation of trial.
This case to me seems to be one of false accusation but the polygraph guy seemed to be a far cry from an expert when questioned properly by the defense council, even the judge had to warn him at a point, he lacked the technical know how and it was glaring for all to see. I trust the judge though, she seems to know what she is doing.