Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
An Oredo Chief Magistrate’s Court sitting in Benin has sentenced the proprietor of Calvary Crown Academy, Benin, Paul Okugbowa, to prison for calling one Mrs. Blessing Aigbudu, a parent of two of his pupils, a prostitute in the glare of the public.
Three of his teachers were also sentenced to prison for negligence.
The presiding Magistrate, Caroline Oghuma, in the judgment delivered on Thursday, sentenced Okugbowa to six months imprisonment with an option of N100,000 fine for calling the mother of a pupil a prostitute.
He was the candidate of the Young Progressive Party (YPP) in the just concluded 2024 Edo governorship election.
The three teachers, Blessing Osarodion, Egharevba Esosa, and Isioma Nimen, were charged with negligence and abandonment of two pupils in their care.
Osarodion and Esosa were sentenced to one year imprisonment or an option of N100,000 fine on each of the two counts bothering on negligence, leading to the injury of a 6-year-old pupil, Salma Ewan Aigbudu.
Nimen was convicted for unlawfully abandoning another pupil, Zuri Aigbudu, 2, who was down with fever and was consequently sentenced to three months imprisonment or an option of N50,000.
The offences for which they were arraigned contravened Sections 167(2), 412, 270, 412 and 267 of the Criminal Laws of Edo 2022.
According to the charge sheet, Okugbowa committed the offence on Sept. 8, 2023 at the AIG Zone 5 headquarters in Benin, where he conducted himself in a manner likely to cause breach of public peace.
He was said to have publicly called Mrs Blessing Aigbudu, the mother of the two pupils, a prostitute in the presence of her husband and bystanders to the hearing of the public.
For the teachers, the trio worked with the Academy and assigned as the caregivers for the children.
According to the sheet, the teachers failed to carry out their duty on the six year-old daughter, which led to an injury on her face on Sept. 29, 2021 and causing her a serious harm.
Salma Aigbudu was said to have been wounded in the waiting room of the school during the closing hour without any first aid administered on her by the teachers on duty.
The three teachers were also charged for abandoning another pupil, Zuri Aigbudu, 2, in Jan. 2022, thereby exposing the pupil to unnecessary danger.