The girl arrested the attention of an Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court, after she drew the likeliness of the manhood of the man that violated her.
A video recording containing the testimony of the girl was played before an Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court.
The video recording, identified as Exhibit A1, shows the victim identifying her defiler as Adegboyega Adenekan (46).
The few minutes video clip was played during the testimony of a clinical psychologist, Miss Olive Ogedengbe, who was led in evidence by the Lagos State Chief State Counsel, Jide Boye.
The witness, Ogedengbe, is a Master’s Degree Holder in Clinical Psychology with 10 years’ experience.
Ogedengbe told the court that the video recording reveals a question and answer section she and her colleagues at the clinic had with the child on November 28, 2016 regarding the alleged defilement.
The child, as seen in the video, was given a sheet of paper and asked to draw the private part of Adenekan, which she did, as well as another image, later shown as a human finger.
After making the drawings, the child said: “That is the hand he used to put in my wee wee.”
Ogedengbe thereafter asked, “Where is Mr. Adenekan’s wee wee?” In response, the child pointed at her private area.
The psychologist further asked: “Does he put his wee wee in your wee wee?” And the child replied “yes.”
The child, imitating the voice of the supervisor, was heard saying in the video recording: “Your bum bum is delicious; your bum bum is sweet. I will eat your bum bum.”
The child thereafter, using a teddy bear as a puppet, also showed how the supervisor allegedly abused another pupil (name withheld), in her class.
Earlier, Ogedengbe, in her testimony before the video recording was played, narrated how the matter was brought to her attention at the clinic.
She said: “The child’s mother came into my office with a referral letter from the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT) and narrated the story. She started crying. She said she didn’t know why this was happening to her. She said she was usually over protective of her children and follows them everywhere except school. She said somebody in her church handed her a book on sexual education for children which she read and decided to practice it on her child. That was when the child disclosed that she has been defiled.
“She told her mother that Mr. Adenekan comes to take her out of the class and shows her some videos that are sexually stimulating. She pleaded with us to help to correct the psyche of her child. I carried out an independent psychological evaluation on the child. I asked the mother to sit at the corner of the room, while my colleague and I interacted with the child. We did not directly start interrogating the child as that was against the ethics of our profession.”
The psychologist added: “We started an initial interaction with the child to make her relax and gain her trust. After we gained her trust, she was in a happy frame of mind. I asked the child, “who touched your wee wee?” and the child repeated on several times “Mr Adenekan.” I was shocked because I did not expect it from a child her age. I brought out my assessment sheet, and told her to draw any person that comes to her mind.
“She restlessly started jumping around. We got her back to being settled, but she continued talking without yet drawing. She (victim) said ‘Mr Adenekan said it is good for a child to put her wee wee in Mr Adenekan’s wee wee.’ At that point in time, we decided to do a recording to ensure her story remains consistent.
“We asked her how does Mr. Adenekan’s wee wee look like and she demonstrated playfully by pointing her finger upwards stating ‘sharpener.’ We asked sharpener or pencil? She stated ‘sharpener.’ We told her to draw Mr. Adenekan’s wee wee. We wanted to see what it looks like.
“To my greatest shock and surprise, for a two-year-old child, she drew a picture which symbolises a reproductive organ of a man in the form of a penis.
“I then asked her, show me your wee wee; she pointed at her private part. I asked her to show me where Mr. Adenekan’s wee wee is and she pointed at the lower region of her private part. By then the child was again getting very restless and she ran to her mother who was at the corner of the room. We still wanted to hear more but she was playfully running around and her mother started probing her ‘is it only you he comes around to take out of the class?’ and she replied no.
“The child said it was herself and her friend (name withheld). So her mother asked her to show us what he normally does with her friend. The child said he kisses her bum bum and he licks her bum bum. The child demonstrated by using a puppy in the room. That was the end of the first interview with the child.”
Ogedengbe said: “Afterwards, I decided to confirm from the mother if the child was exhibiting any symptoms of psychological abuse. I asked the mother if she observed any strange behaviour in the child and the mother said yes. I had asked because I noticed in the course of interacting with the child, she was occasionally aggressive.
The mother confirmed this and also stated that the child had sleep problems and had been having nightmares. She also complained of sexual inappropriate behaviour from the child that after the incident the child became curious to see naked bodies of people. From my findings, I found the child exhibited aggressive behaviour, inappropriate sexual behaviour, sleeping problems and fear. After the interaction, my colleague and I realised that the child and mother needed help. The mother also exhibited signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“We decided to do an intervention and we held two more sessions of psycho-social intervention for the mother and the mother was counselled on how to help and assist the child.”
Ogedengbe, while being cross-examined by Mr Olatunde Adejuyigbe (SAN), said the child was not tutored on what to say during the interview either by her or the child’s mother.
She said: “We used projective techniques in which a client projects their subconscious minds on paper.”
During the lengthy testimony, Ogedengbe said that from her evaluation, the mother and child needed psychological help. She revealed to Adejuyigbe that she visited the mother of the child’s friend, who was also allegedly sexually assaulted by Adenekan.
“We saw the mother of the child’s friend, but she was not willing to get involved in the case because of stigma,” she said.
The clinical psychologist also insisted that the child was of above average intelligence.
“Children 0-5 years are usually not able to form full sentences. The child could string meaningful sentences. In drawing a picture, most children her age do not draw meaningful drawings, but she did. I have worked with children her age from diverse sections of society and she is of above average intelligence.”
Justice Sybil Nwaka adjourned the case till March 21 for continuation of trial.
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