The police in Plateau State have arrested a teacher with Bright Kids Academy, Barkin Ladi, Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of the state, Chukwudi Boniface, for raping and impregnating a 12-year-old primary three pupil in the school.
It was gathered that the teacher had in December last year organised an extra-mural lesson, which was attended by only four pupils, including the victim.
Boniface, after giving them a class work, told the victim to wait for him in the next classroom with her book, where he met her and forcibly had carnal knowledge of her.
The pupil, while narrating her ordeal to reporters yesterday in Jos, said: “My teacher called me to come close and held my hands and then he forced me down and removed my cloths and had sex with me. I cried but nobody came to help me. So after he finished, he warned me not to tell anybody and said if I did, he would deal with me severely.”
A source said the girl is an orphan and because the teacher had warned her not to mention it to anyone, she kept it to herself “until a few months later when we begin to notice some pregnancy signs, and after thorough investigation, she confessed.”
Confirming the arrest to journalists yesterday in Jos, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Felicia Anselm, said the teacher had been arrested and was in custody for further investigation.
“The man has been arrested and investigations are ongoing, and he will be charged to court,” she added.
Decrying the spate of rape in the state, the state Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Sarah Yusuf, said government would take steps to bring the perpetrators to book.
She also encouraged all stakeholders in the campaign against rape to speak out against the menace.
The state chapter of the Young Women’s Christians Association (YWCA) equally condemned the rising incident of rape of minors.
Spokesperson of the association, Mrs. Elizabeth Audu, said the raping of girls between the ages of two and 13 had of recent taken a bad dimension in the state and called on government to intervene by fishing out and punishing the perpetrators.
