Four-year-old raped, strangled to death by teacher

Controversy. Allegations. Counter allegations. And then allegations of foul play. These have been issues surrounding the death of a four-year-old pupil, Elizabeth Wanogho, who was allegedly sexually assaulted and killed by her teacher, Alade Adebayo, in Akure, the Ondo State capital.

The family of the deceased has called for justice to prevail in the case. The family, through the father of the girl, Ovie Wanogho, who suspects foul play by the police and the Proprietor of Falaiye Memorial Nursery/Primary School, located on Old Akure-Ondo Road, Ologede, Akure, is crying foul over the handling of the case.
Ovie betrayed emotions as tears rolled down his cheeks as he was narrated how Elizabeth died and the investigation process, which has been surrounded by controversies, foul play and allegations.
The bereaved 45-year-old, Delta State born Ovie appealed to Nigerians and concerned organisations to assist him so that the police does not sweep the case under the carpet.
Ovie, a Civil Engineer with HFP Construction Company, who was transferred from Bauchi in Bauchi State to Akure three months ago, has relocated his family without knowing that his action will claim the life of his second daughter, Elizabeth, who was allegedly defiled and strangled by her teacher, Adebayo, who is also the son of the school proprietor, Kola, a University undergraduate of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko.
The family of five, which reside a kilometre from Adebowale along the Akure-Ondo Road, live in the same area with the school proprietor.
Narrating his ordeal at his Idi-mango residence at Adebowale, off Ondo Road, Akure, Ovie, trying to hold back his tears, had his voice shaking. He said: “I was just transferred to Akure from Bauchi some three months ago and I decided to enrol my children in Falaiye Memorial Nursery/Primary School Old Akure-Ondo Road, Ologede, Akure.
“I paid all the necessary fees of N36,000 and I also went to the school to see the teachers that were to be teaching my children and as a parent, I was satisfied with both their uncle and aunty that I saw.
“One day, Elizabeth came home and said her aunty does not come to school again and she liked her but I told her the proprietor knows better. She again came home another day to say she does not see her uncle too anymore and I told her to just attend her school.
“It was with those complaints she returned home one afternoon from school that I heard her while I was sleeping, telling her mother that her new uncle put his hand in her private part and touched my bum bum. Before I could come out of my room, her mother brought her to me and she repeated it.
“I took her to the school the following day to report to the proprietor, Mr. Kola, who summoned the teacher and Elizabeth repeated what she said at home and the teacher, Alade, said in yoruba: ‘Mo kan ba sere ni’. Meaning: I was just playing with her. I then warned him seriously that such should not repeat itself again. The proprietor promised that such will never happen again.
‘My daughter returned that day to report to me that because I came to warn her uncle, he pressed her neck, saying: ‘Your parents are not here. I will deal with you.’ She made me know that the teacher is the proprietor’s son.
“She complained of neck pains and I went to a nearby chemist to complain and bought the prescribed drugs and administered it on her, only for her neck to swell overnight and I rushed her to the hospital that night. It was on my way I met Mr. Kola driving out and I explained my plight to him but he said my wife and I should wait for him, which I did, but Kola never returned.
“It was while waiting a neighbour, who is a retired police officer, saw us and decided to take us to the Military Hospital at the barracks where Elizabeth was placed on drips and antibiotics. She was given nine bottles of drips and N2,800 worth of anti-biotics each to just reduce the swollen neck but to no avail.
“All along, I was concerned with my daughter’s recovery but with all the treatment, she was not responding to treatment and each time she asked for food she could not swallow when the food was brought to her.
“It was after few days spent at the hospital that the soldiers asked about the proprietor, of which I took them to the school and the proprietor claimed that he was not aware of what happened and revealed that the boy is his son, an undergraduate of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko and a cultist, who is at home due to the ASUU (Academic Staff Union of Universities) strike.
“He said he asked his son to help him retain the class because some of his teachers had left and he never knew it will lead to this.”
The father of the deceased said the proprietor insisted that he could only produce his son if Ovie was not around because he was afraid of what he will do to him.
Ovie narrated further: “We were later referred to Mother and Child Hospital in Akure where I was asked to buy blood but because I do not have money, I volunteered to donate my blood, of which two pints was taken from me to just save my daughter’s life.
“It was then that I received a call from the police that the proprietor was negotiating the release of his son when I rushed to Fanibi Police Station and I insisted I am still concerned about my daughter’s recovery. I was there when I was called on phone from the hospital that I had to rush back.
“When I got to Mother and Child Hospital, I saw my daughter and she stretched her hands to me and called me: ‘Daddy! Daddy!’ As soon as I moved to her and carried her, she breathed her last.
“I thought it was a joke. I raised her hand, it dropped and I realised she was gone.”
At this moment, Ovie betrayed emotions and wept like a baby. Ovie, who went on his knees weeping, pleaded for justice. He said the doctor’s report revealed that something struck her vaginal and she was strangled on the neck. She is in the mortuary now and what I want now is justice.
“I want fellow Nigerians to help me. I have three kids and I have lost one. She is my carbon copy. I gave her my blood to keep her but she has left me.”
However, while reacting to the issue on behalf of the school management, the Proprietor, Kola Alade, denied all the allegations by the father of the deceased. Alade said Elizabeth was not assaulted as claimed by her father.
He said: “Ovie never came to my school as claimed. It was the mother of the deceased that came to the school with her children to complain and I summoned my headmistress and the teacher, Adebayo, who in turn denied that anything of such happened.
“When the girl was in the hospital, I told my Head mistress to go and visit her and we even advised the father to take the child to Mother and Child Hospital but he preferred that his child be taken to the Military Hospital.”
Alade further alleged that Ovie was complacent with the treatment of his child, which resulted to the death of the girl. He said he was reluctant all along as he did not respond when he was called to donate blood for his daughter. He said it was late before he eventually did.
The proprietor lamented that Ovie simply wants to tarnish the image of his school as all he claimed are untrue. He said: “We have urged him to go and let an autopsy be carried out on the girl but he has been avoiding that because when we know the cause of death, we will be able to know what really happened to the girl.”
Meanwhile, the school Headmistress, Tinuola Ajimajasan, said Elizabeth was not beaten or assaulted as claimed and the school was not aware that she was sick and the little girl in question is in kindergarten class.
Confirming the arrest, the state Police Public Relations Officer, ASP, Wole Ogodo, said the suspect, Adebayo Alade, has been apprehended and he iis presently in detention at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Akure. Ogodo further explained that the case is still under investigation and that a postmortem will reveal the cause of death.
He added: “We cannot ascertain if it was the beating that resulted to her death or something else. We will need an expert to do the autopsy on the deceased as the police cannot rely on an unrecognised hospital.”