Five officials of the Deeper Life High School who were arraigned before a Magistrate Court sitting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, have pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against them over the alleged molestation of Don Davis, a JSS 1 student of the school.
The officials include Ndidi Solomon, the suspended principal of the school, Joseph Nseabasi, Akpan Johnson, Eger Wilson and Joseph Ikenna.
Two students of the school were also arraigned. They were accused of inserting their fingers into Davis’ anus in a video uploaded on social media by Deborah Okezie, mother of Davis, some days ago.
The two students who are in SS1 also pleaded not guilty.
The officials were accused of conspiring to commit felony through indecent treatment of boys under 14 which violates Section 556 of the Criminal Code, Cap. 38 Vol. 2 Laws of Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria 2000.
The students, according to the charges brought against them, violates Section 218(1) of the Criminal Code, Cap. 38 Vol. 2 Laws of Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria 2000.
While Ndidi Solomon and four others were charged to the Magistrate Court, the two students, who are currently 13-years-old, were charged to the Juvenile Court, police spokesperson in the state, Odiko Macdon, said.
They were all granted bail and the case adjourned to January 20 for proper hearing.
HumAngle had earlier reported how the 11-year-old Davis was sexually abused, starved and physically assaulted by some senior students of the school after he was moved by the school principal to a hostel filled by senior students because of bedwetting.
“They will remove his boxer and push their legs and hands into his anus,” Deborah Okezie, Davis’ mother had alleged in a viral video.
“Look at a child I sent to school, he came back with a broken anus.”
“People who have children in boarding school don’t know what these children go through. Boarding schools of these days are not like the boarding school of those days.”
HumAngle also reports that the school management had suspended the principal of its Uyo campus as part its investigation into the matter while also handing over officials fingered in the allegations to a panel set up by the state government.
The police also has launched a separate investigation into the allegations.
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