When his friend, Yinusa Olowu, a bricklayer, visited him at the venue of his unregistered mushroom school in the Bariga area of Lagos, Sadiq Sowunmi never suspected that the man once alleged to be in the habit of sexually violating children had not given up his paedophilic disposition.
Unknown to Sowunmi, Olowu had since his arrival in his friend’s place been secretly looking for an opportunity to be alone with the children in the unregistered mushroom school. Olowu it was learnt, had a record as an alleged paedophile with the police at the Bariga Division.
That inglorious opportunity for him to perpetrate his nefarious act, however, came when Sowunmi went to the nearby toilet to throw away the children’s urine earlier collected in a container.
Both of them were initially arrested for the offence, but when police commenced investigation, it was revealed that the real perpetrator was Olowu. As a matter of fact, he has a track record of rape cases with the police. He committed the offence when his friend went out to do something
Within a twinkle of an eye within which Sowunmi, the mushroom school proprietor, turned his back to go to the toilet, Olowu had quickly grabbed one of the innocent children, a three-year-old and allegedly raped her. He did the illicit act so perfectly that not any one of the other pupils around saw what he had done to one of them.
By the time his friend returned from the toilet, Olowu had accomplished his devilish mission and had pulled himself together, looking unruffled, unperturbed and as innocent as a day-old child.
The excruciating pain being felt by the victim on her private part, by the time she returned home to her parents, and the ability of the child to relate to her mother what actually happened to her earlier in the ‘school’ located at 38, Olorunkemi Street, Bariga, Lagos, however, gave Olowu away as the culprit.
Following her complaint, the victim’s mother had taken her child to a medical centre, where it was confirmed that she had been sexually abused and violated.
A resident of the area, Akeem Afolabi, told our correspondent that Olowu solely perpetrated the criminal act without the foreknowledge of Sowunmi, his friend and the mushroom school proprietor.
Afolabi said Olowu later confessed to the crime during interrogation by the police.
“Both of them were initially arrested for the offence, but when police commenced investigation, it was revealed that the real perpetrator was Olowu. As a matter of fact, he has a track record of rape cases with the police. He committed the offence when his friend went out to do something. His friend who owns the school was not aware of the development until the mother of the child came and raised the alarm over the matter,” he said.
Another resident of the area, Rukayat Omolola, said medical experts at the Mirabel Centre in Lagos confirmed that the victim had been defiled and then efforts were made to arrest the suspects.
According to her, the unregistered school, where the student was defiled, has only one room.
“The girl was confirmed to have been defiled at the Mirabel Centre. Due to this, the police were able to arrest the suspects over the crime. I wonder why parents will descend so low to put their children in such a school that is not approved by the government,” Omolola said.
The Coordinator of Child Protection Network in Somolu, Comrade Okanlawon Toyin, vowed that all efforts would be made to ensure that the perpetrators were brought to
book.
Throwing more light on the incident, the CPN coordinator said, “Sodiq Showunmi, 30, who hails from Abeokuta, Ago-Oba, town, attended Ladi-Lak Primary School and Ajayi Crowder Memorial Senior Grammar School in Bariga, Lagos. He has no means of livelihood and has no accommodation. He is an orphans from a poor background, who slept in a mosque for seven years before his extended family members deemed it fit to give him a space under the balcony on the ground floor of number 38, Olorunkemi Street, Bariga. He converted the space to a low cost school known as Smart Kids Day School. It’s just like a lesson, where clients pay N100 daily. He covered the space with plywood, just by the drainage.
“Showunmi has been operating the unregistered school for about 10 years. After 4pm, mothers come to pick their children; then the school becomes a large room for him to sleep and host friends at night. Showunmi had been managing the place as both a school and a room, using the little realised from the seven kids he’s managing to keep body and soul together.
“On the 3rd of October 2018, one of his friends called Yinusa Olowu, aged 25, who lives at number 5, Kadiri Street, Sungas, Bariga, and a bricklayer, who hails from Ijebu Ode in Ogun State, visited Showunmi at his school. Later in the day, all parents came for their children and left for home. One of the pupils under the care of Showunmi got home and went to urinate; during the process, the three-year-old girl started screaming and shouting ‘mummy, mummy, my bum-bum (buttocks) is paining me. Her mother checked her private part and discovered it had been tampered with. She was shocked and took her daughter to a private hospital within the community, where it was said that she was suspected to have been defiled. She was referred to the Mirabel Centre by the police in Bariga. There, it was confirmed that the girl had been defiled and analysis of the the extent of damage was done.”
Okanlawon added, “On her referral, my team and I accompanied the survivor’s parents to the station for proper documentation at the Bariga Division. CPN led the police to arrest Showunmi, popularly called Alfa, who was brought to the station for interrogation. It was during interrogation that Showunmi remembered that Olowu came to visit him and he at a point, left him with the pupils when he went to pour away the pupils urine in the toilet. He said the defilement wasn’t perpetrated by him and that he suspected his friend, because Olowu was once involved in a defilement case within the community. So, the police went after Olowu, who was arrested and interrogated. He confessed to have defiled the three-year-old
girl.”
Olowu also claimed to have been pushed by the devil to commit the criminal act.
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Chike Oti, told our correspondent that, “The case was immediately transferred to the Gender Unit for necessary action. The Gender Unit has also done the needful by perfecting the necessary documents for charging the suspects to court.”
