Headmaster gets 14-year-jail for defiling 2 pupils in Kano

Ahmed Rufai Bello, a private school headmaster who defiled two pupils has been sentenced by a Kano state High Court to a 14-year-jail term .

The court further ordered the convict to pay N50.000 as compensation to each of the victims.  Bello was further ordered to pay N50.000 fine to the state and would proceed to serve another  six months in jail should he fail to comply to the terms laid down by the court.

The convict,  who resides at House no  223  Kabuga quarters, Kano, while serving as the headmaster of De Emirates Academy lured two of his pupils,  Hanifa Nasir and Zaharau Idris, 6 and 7 years old respectively into his office where he had carnal knowledge of them.

The  charge sheet stated that Bello (the convict), sometime around September 2015 and February 2016  after succeeding in luring his victims into his office,  proceeded to insert his finger into their vaginas respecticvely.

According to the state’s principal counsel, Barrister Bashir Sale, the convict  acted in manner that was tantamount to  gross indecency. He said that the act  committed by Bello, contravenes the provisions of section 285 of the Penal Code Law of Kano State (as amended) in 1991.

However, the prosecution counsel summoned seven witnesses, who testified against the convict, before the court.

Furthermore, Inspector Maryam Nurudeen of the Sexual and Other Related Offences department of the Nigerian Police Force told the court that, she recorded the statement of the convict, adding that, she led the team of police officers assigned to investigate the matter.

According to the charge sheet, the act was unveiled when  one of the victims reported   what had transpired between her and the headmaster to her mother. The mother of the victim,  in turn, reported the matter to the authorities.

Dr I A. Oricha, of the Muritala Muhammad Specialist Hospital, Kano on examining the defiled pupils, reported that their hymen  were ruptured.

However, the convict denied all  the allegations  levelled against him before the court.

Justice Nasiru Saminu  delivering his verdict, pronounced  the accused guilty as charged. The court ordered Bello to proceed to serve 14 years in jail without an option.