Deeper Life School: Court cautions victim’s mother against discussing case on Facebook

A Chief Magistrate in Uyo, Winifred Umohandy, on Thursday, cautioned Deborah Archibong, the mother of the victim of the alleged sexual abuse at the Deeper Life High School to desist from discussing the case on Facebook.

Mrs Archibong has been gaining a huge following on Facebook since December when she came out to say via Facebook live that her 11-year-old son, a JSS1 student of the school, was sexually abused by two senior students of the school.

The video, like subsequent ones she did on the case, went viral on Facebook, as well as on Twitter, with over 7,000 comments on Facebook alone.

Mrs Archibong at some point said some unnamed people were putting pressure on her to pull down the video.

“Let the media stay off, let the court do justice on the merit of the case,” the magistrate said to Mrs Archibong, after cautioning her to cease further discussion on Facebook.

The magistrate asked her and her husband to stand up in the court, while she addressed the issue which was prompted by a complaint from the lawyer to the Deeper Life High School, Fidelis Igwe.

Mrs Archibong on Friday informed her Facebook friends, fans and supporters she would no longer discuss her son’s case on the social media site, apparently in obedience to the magistrate’s instruction.

“Good afternoon, beautiful people! Please, I want to beg everyone, the matter is in court, we are not going to discuss anything here pertaining to the matter, let’s allow the court to handle it,” she said in a live broadcast.

She used the broadcast to rather market her personal businesses.

A day before the court sitting, Mrs Archibong’s lawyer, David Okokon, said his client would no longer need to talk to Nigerians through Facebook since the matter was going to be brought before a magistrate.

Five officials of the Deeper Life High School, Uyo, on Thursday pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against them over the alleged sexual abuse.

Two SS1 students of the school, both of them 13 years old, were also arraigned in the same court. The two also pleaded not guilty.

The officials are Joseph Nseabasi, Akpan Johnson, Egor Wilson, Joseph Ikenna, and Ndidi Solomon, the suspended principal of the school.

Allegations

The victim’s mother, Mrs Archibong said the two senior students of the Deeper Life High School sexually abused her son when the school authorities switched him from his dormitory to another dormitory filled with senior students.

“They will remove his boxer and push their legs and hands into his anus,” Mrs Archibong said in the Facebook video.

“Look at a child I sent to school, he came back with a broken anus,” she added.

Mrs Archibong said her son was frequently starved and beaten up by the senior students.

The Deeper Life High School is owned by a Pentecostal church, The Deeper Christian Life Ministry.

The school trended on Twitter a few days ago over the case, with several Nigerians calling on William Kumuyi, a pastor and founder of The Deeper Christian Life Ministry, to ensure that the victim gets justice.

“We will like to state that Deeper Life High School stands on the core values of integrity and uprightness and will not attempt to cover up any immoral act under any guise,” Thelma Malaka, the school’s education secretary, who spoke through a video uploaded on Twitter, said of the sexual abuse allegation.

“We have unflinching confidence in our God to resolve the issue such that at the end the truth will ultimately prevail,” she said.

The school suspended the principal of the embattled Uyo campus and launched an investigation.