ENUGU: Court convicts 2 men for raping 8-yr-old girl

Two men identified as Ernest Obieze and Ferdinand Okechukwu have both been convicted by a Federal High Court, sitting in Enugu State for unlawful procurement and raping an eight-year-old girl.

The convicts who were arrested by men of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Enugu Zonal Command following a tip-off were both sentenced to five years jail term each.

The men who were paraded in court on a seven count charge and were both convicted are also to pay an additional fine of N100, 000 each and will serve an additional three years in prison if they fail to pay the fine.

Justice D. V Agishi of the Federal High Court while delivering judgement on the case with charge number FHC/EN/78/2013 held that the prosecutor had proven beyond reasonable doubt that the pair raped the eight-year-old and subsequently pronounced them guilty, sentencing them both.

Read also: 27-yr-old father of three lands in court for raping 10-yr-old neighbour

Reacting to the development, Dame Julie Okah-Donli, Director-General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), said she is happy with the outcome of the case which she described as a landmark judgement.

Dame Julie said; “I commend the court for the judgement. I want to sound this as a warning to those evil minded fellows who take delight in procuring our promising children for prostitution or any other unlawful activities that NAPTIP is gradually closing in on them.”

“We have intensified our surveillance efforts as well as other intelligence gathering mechanisms to ensure that our children are safe wherever they are in Nigeria and beyond. I also want to appeal to Nigerians to join hands with NAPTIP to expose these questionable people whose sole interest is to procure traffic and exploit our children, thereby denying them the opportunity of becoming what they want to become. This is why we must key into the whistle blowing policy of the Agency to expose the traffickers.”

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