A Sokoto State magistrates’ court has sentenced one Emmanuel Bassey and his wife to three years imprisonment or N275,000 fine for confining their 12-year-old niece in an unused fridge for eight months.
Chief Magistrate Shu’aibu Ahmad fined the couple another N25,000 or six months jail term for criminal conspiracy.
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He also fined them N50,000 for wrongful confinement and in default they would spend 12 months in prison.
He averred that the couple were found guilty of cruelty to the child and sentenced them to 12 months imprisonment with N100,000 fine and in default they would spend three years in prison.
Ahmad noted that they would serve the sentences concurrently.
He, however, granted their two children, Goodness Emmanuel and Happiness Emmanuel, bail in the sum of N500,000 and one surety each in like sum.
It would be recalled that the niece, Joy Emmanuel, was confined in a fridge inside a cage without food for eight months by her aunty and her husband, Esther Emmanuel and Emmanuel Basey, who reside at the Cinema area in Sokoto North Local Government Area.
The reason for their action, as gathered by Daily Trust, was that she was mentally unstable which was later proven to be false by the police.
