Admin I Friday, April 7, 2023
IKEJA, Lagos, Nigeria – Hearing continued in the trial of school bus driver at the Domestic and Special Offences Court today for alleged defilement of a 3-year old minor, one of the pupils the defendant conveys to and fro school with the defendant stating that he was framed up for halting the explosive romantic romp with mother of survivor.
In the case ID/12902C/20 filed before the Lagos State Sexual Offences Court, between Lagos State Government and one Michael Mowete on Thursday, the prosecution stated that on the 27th of September 2019, the Defendant allegedly defiled the Survivor on the said date, during the process of driving the pupils to school between 5 and 6 am.
In the continuation of trial, the prosecution alleged that the defendant in his oral statements hinted the reason he is being prosecuted, is that the mother of the survivor is being vindictive towards him, because he tried stopping the illicit affair he was having with the survivor’s mother.
The Defendant told the court that the mother of the survivor made sexual advances towards him and despite he being a married man, accepted the woman and started a an explosive sexual affair with her.
He insisted that the survivor’s mother cooked up the allegation of defilement just to punish him for ending the unholy affair.
Prosecution however, disagreed with the Defendant’s claim of vindictiveness of the survivors mother, describing it as an after-thought and has no bearing on the case.
Especially because, the Defendant never made such allegation in the 2 written statements he has previously made on the case at the Okota Police Station and at Area G.
For the defense, a witness who was the school bus minder and an Assistant Teacher appeared in court to testify in support of the Defendant.
in her testimonies, she stated that the Defendant had never had an issue or complain from parents prior to the incident and he had been a conscientious Driver in the course of his work.
The Witness also stated that because of the cordial relationship she has with the children, they confide in her and that she asked the Survivor if the Defendant had touched her body and the Survivor said “No”.
She also stated that the parent of the Survivor never complained to her about the alleged defilement despite having her contact.
During cross-examination of the Defense Witness, the Prosecution asked if the witness was with the driver on the morning of September 27 2019 when the defilement incident allegedly happened to which the witness answered “No”.
The prosecution asked further questions and at the end of the cross-examination, Prosecution found holes in the testimonies of the witness and concluded that the witness is unfit to defend the Defendant because she was not present at the alleged crime scene.
In his ruling, Justice R.A Oshodi adjourned the case to 20th of June for the adoption of final written addresses by the Prosecution and Defense.
