New Telegraph

Man, 70, to appeal 30-year sentence, says he ‘loves’ 9-year-old girl rape victim

•Girl says: ‘He threatened me with snakes, gave me N50 to keep quite’

A Magistrate Court in Minna, Niger State has sentenced 70-yearold Mohammed Sani Umar, to 30 years imprisonment with hard labour for raping a nine-year-old girl.

 

However, Sani Umar, who had pleaded guilty to the offence which happened in Chanchaga area, vowed to appeal his conviction on the ground, that he was in ‘love’ with the child. While delivering judgment, Senior Magistrate Safuratu Abdulkareem Mahmud of Magistrate Court III, Anguwan Daji Minna, found Sani guilty of the offence and sentenced him to 30 years in prison without an option of fine. The Prosecutor presented two witnesses which included the victim and the Police Officer who investigated the case and recorded the confessional statement of the convict.

 

In her testimony the nineyear- old victim, (name withheld), told the Court that the convict had sex with her twice and threatened her with a snake not to tell anyone; he also gave her N50. Similarly, the Police told the Court that the convict during investigations confessed to committing the crime. According to him: “Mohammed Sani Umar confessed to committing the crime and the medical report showed that there was penetration.”

The suspect, who pleaded guilty and didn’t object to the exhibits presented, declined to cross examine the witnesses, submitting that all their submissions before the Court are true.

 

The Magistrate added that the jail term was in line with Section 18, Subsection 2 of the Child’s Rights Act (2010) of Niger State It should be noted that, Sani, who admitted before a Magistrate Court that he raped the little girl twice said “I loved her, and I will appeal the judgement”.

 

The suspect it should be recalled was arrested few days after the mother of the girl noticed her abnormal behaviour, which made her question the girl before she revealed that the septuagenarian defiled her. Speaking to our Correspondent, uncle of the victim, Abubakar Saidun Arah said: “She was sick for some weeks and after every treatment, she was still not very well. Then, a neighbour advised her mother to keep a close watch on the girl, which the mother started doing.

 

“After some days, she saw some stains on her underwear and asked her what happened to her. “The little girl took the mother to his place and on reaching there, she just pointed at him. And on sighting the woman and the girl, he started begging them to cover it up so he will take responsibility.”

Read Previous

Abia medical centres: Tales of abandoned, neglected facilities

Read Next

Three gunned down as hunters foil kidnapping in Kogi

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *