Some residents of Ogunfunmi Street, Akobi Crescent in the Surulere
area of Lagos on Tuesday, dragged a school teacher, Benedict Ekpenyong,
to a police station for allegedly locking up a female pupil in his room
and attempting to rape her.
According to
PUNCH, the 14-year-old pupil,
identified only as Blessing, had been lured by Ekpenyong to his
apartment at about 12pm, after which he bolted the door to the suspicion
of his neighbours.
It was learnt that Ekpenyong, who was a teacher in Akintan Grammar
School on Akintan Street, Surulere, and Blessing, also a pupil of the
school, were in the room for a few minutes before a mob surrounded the
house and tried to force the teacher’s door open.
It was gathered that when the door was forced open, the mob observed
that Ekpenyong had allegedly attempted to have sex with the pupil, and
they began to beat him.
The teacher was reportedly beaten by the mob before he and the pupil were dragged to the Alakara Police Division at about 1pm.
Speaking with the publication, a resident of the street, who declined
to give his name, said the police had visited the teacher’s house to
collect exhibits, adding that the neighbours became angry because
Ekpenyong allegedly had a habit of bringing schoolgirls and locking them
up in his room during school hours.
He said:
“I do not stay on Ogunfunmi Street but I knew when
the mob went to the house. For several minutes, people gathered in front
of the teacher’s room and asked him to open the door but he refused.
Then, they forced it open.“When they did, they found evidence that
Ekpenyong might have attempted to rape the girl as the pupil was not the
first person that would be brought to the teacher’s room. So, they
began to beat him up. It was a major scene on the street.”
It was learnt that Ekpenyong had been arrested by the police and
detained since Tuesday, while the girl was taken away by the Domestic
and Sexual Violence Response Team of the Lagos State Government for
medical examination and rehabilitation.
One of the social workers, identified only as Idowu, said:
“The information we have is that the suspect is
notorious in the area for bringing little girls to his house and doing
suspicious things with them. He locks them up in his room so nobody gets
to hear anything.
“On Tuesday, the neighbours were watching him and they sent an alert
to the government. By the time we got there, he had stepped out with
the girl. The people actually beat him up and dragged both of them to
the police station. The girl has been taken and we are making
arrangements to move her from the station.”
