By Hardball

Her simple honesty put the outrage in its grim perspective; and more than justified the severe penalty for the sex beast.

Justice Sybil Nwaka quoted her testimony in these gripping, haunting words: “In our present case, the victim said Adenekan put his finger in her ‘wee-wee’, put his ‘wee-wee’ in her ‘wee-wee’, and his mouth in her ‘wee-wee’ .”

Geez!  How can a trusted adult put a child under his care, through those filthy and varied sexual acts?

It is the making of a convicted paedophile, Adegboyega Adenekan, 47, who just earned 60 years in the slammer — no tears!  But the question is: how many more paedophiles are still loose in our schools, in a society where shame-powered silence shields these heinous criminals from the law?

Adenekan, a former supervisor at Chrisland School, Lagos, was said to have committed these acts, while defliling a child a month short of her third birthday, at one of the school’s branches, located in Victoria Garden City (VCG), Lekki, Lagos.

You have got to break out in cold sweat, seeing the way the man must have experimented, at different times, with different styles, on a poor child, in his charge!

You can also imagine the trauma of the girl’s parents, and the life-long impact that abuse might have on the poor child, if it is not well handled.  But you must also commend the parents for following through with the case and ensuring justice was done.

What of the shame Adenekan has brought his immediate family? Does he have a wife and children?  If he does, how would his wife and children face the society, knowing her husband and their father was the heinous paedophile just convicted — and for good reason too!

What of the trust in the school system?  Sure, Adenekan couldn’t have been the only paedophile in the system.  How can the schools system be the same again, if parents are not absolutely sure there are no sexual perverts on the prowl, hiding under the cover of teachers and other school staff, not unlike the biblical wolf in sheep skin?

Adenekan’s conviction is a new low. But it also a wake-up call to the emergency of the  sexual abuse of toddlers and minors, which now appears rampant, in our society.  What is not clear, however, is whether it is a new scourge or routine crimes, under-reported in the past, because of conspiratorial silence, pushed by shame.

Whatever it is, it is time to depart from that culture of shameful silence.  It is time to go after every paedophile out there.  It is time to name and shame.

But beyond naming and shaming, some of these incidents could be questions of mental health.  No, mental ill health does not justify sexual pervasion.  That that pervasion is visited on a helpless child makes it even more unpardonable.

Still, in tackling this epidemic, no possible solution should be spared.  Yes, throw the paedophile into the can, and with a vengeance too!  But work on a programme aimed at greatly curbing the menace, if not completely eliminating it.

Adenekan has shown the paedophile is no good to anyone: the family of his victim, the criminal’s own family, the school which name he has blighted and the society at large which cringes from his depravity.

Let his conviction therefore signal a new wave of aggressive campaigns against this evil.