A Federal High Court in Osun, Osun State, has sentenced a former lecturer in Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Professor Richard Akindele, to two years in prison for demandingsex from a student, Miss Monica Osagie, in exchange for marks.
Justice Maureen Onyekenu gave the order after Akindele changed his plea from not guilty to guilty.
The trial judge ordered that the lecturer serve his sentence in Ilesa Prison due to the magnitude of the offence he committed “which is prevalent in the country.”
Onyekenu had earlier rejected a suspended sentence and plea bargain which the defendant’s counsel Mr. Francis Omotosho, had sought, noting that suspended sentence and plea bargain should be premised on public interest.
She decried the gravity of the offence the don committed, adding that someone must be used“as scapegoat without letting the issue of sexual harassment in tertiary institutions continue like that.
Omotosho had earlier pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy in sentencing his client.
The lecturer was first arraigned before Justice Maureen Onyetenu on November 19 by the ICPC on four counts of alteration of age and demanding sex to pass his student.
- NAN