The
victim, who is in SS 1, Abigail Chidinma Enyenwa, passed out after
she was allegedly whipped by the teacher for insubordination.
The
incident, P.M
NEWS reliably
gathered, happened on Tuesday during school hours.
Sebastine
was subsequently arrested at the school premises the following day by
policemen from Iponri Police Station for interrogation over the
matter.
It
was gathered that Abigail incurred the wrath of her teacher when she
allegedly behaved rudely and acted contrary to his instructions
during class session on the fateful day.
The
Chemistry teacher was said to have asked all students whose parents
were not present during the school’s open-day to stand on their
feet, an instruction which Abigail allegedly ignored.
She
reportedly disregarded, the teacher’s instruction and sat down
while others stood up.
This
infuriated the teacher and he called her out, gave her some strokes
of the cane for her action.
It
was reliably gathered from our source that Abigail passed-out in the
process and commotion ensued afterwards.
She
regained consciousness minutes later when some packs of sachet water
were poured on her by her classmates and her frightened teacher who
initially thought she was pretending.
The
matter was said to have been reported at Iponri Police Station by the
girl’s parents while Sebastine was arrested the following day.
Our
correspondent further gathered that the school Principal, Mrs Anyah
prevented the police from taking the teacher away when they arrived
at the school to effect his arrest.
When
P.M NEWS visited the school on Wednesday and Thursday, to get the
teacher’s side of the story, he was not available for comments on
the two occasions.
During
our correspondent’s visit on Wednesday, the school principal was
said to have gone for a meeting outside the school premises while the
reporter was referred to the Vice Principal for comments.
She
denied knowledge of the incident and referred our reporter back to
the Principal’s office to wait for her.
On
Thursday, the principal was around but denied that the incident
happened in the school. “Well, as a civil servant, am not obliged
to speak to the media. Besides, I don’t understand what you are
talking about. No teacher beats a student to stupor here,” Mrs.
Anyah said.
A
student who does not want his name mentioned and who claimed to be
Abigail’s friend, said,”I’m not in her class and wasn’t in
school when it happened. But I heard the story. I asked her and
she told me what happened.
“She
said she stood up when the teacher asked them to do so but was
putting her hands around her waist. She told me that she did
not answer him when he asked why she’s not standing properly and
the teacher in anger descended on her,” he toldP.M.NEWS.
Another
student who is Abigail’s classmate and was in class when the
incident happened, said:”she behaved rudely to the teacher. She was
behaving as if Mr Sebastine was her boyfriend while he was talking to
her. He only gave her four strokes of the cane and she passed out.
“Initially
he thought she was pretending but when she didn’t stand up, he
became frightened and asked us to go and buy some packs of pure water
which we poured on her. I guess she wasn’t feeling alright that day
or something was wrong with her.
“Mr
Sebastine cannot beat somebody to stupor. He’s not that wicked.
Besides, we do receive more than six strokes of the cane from him and
we never fainted for once,” he said.
When
asked if it was true that the teacher has been suspended, he said:”he
was in school on Wednesday before the police came to arrest him. They
came with an arrest warrant but the principal prevented them from
taking him away.
“I
have not seen him afterwards but I guess he’s among the teachers
who are currently undergoing training. I think that was why he
was not in school today(Thursday),” he said.
That must have been one ’hell’ of a beating.
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