A 70-year-old man, Mohammed Sani Umar, has been sentenced to 30 years imprisonment with hard labour by a Minna magistrate’s court for raping a 9-year-old girl.
The convict, who pleaded guilty to raping the little girl in Chanchaga area, vowed to appeal the judgement.
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The prosecutor presented two witnesses; the victim and the Police officer who investigated the case and recorded the confessional statement of the convict.
In her testimony, the nine years old victim told the court that the convict had sex with her twice and threatened her with a snake not to tell anyone and also gave her the sum of N50.
Similarly, the Police told the court that the convict, during investigation, confessed to committing the crime.
According to him, “Mohammed Sani Umar confessed to committing the crime and the medical report gotten showed that there was penetration.”
The suspect, who did not object to the exhibits, declined to cross examine the witnesses, submitting that all their submissions before the Court were true.
While delivering judgment on the case, Senior Magistrate Safuratu Abdulkareem Mahmud of Magistrate Court III, Anguwan Daji Minna, found Sani guilty of the offense and sentenced him to 30 years in prison without an option of fine.
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.
‘I love her’
Sani, who admitted before a Magistrate’s Court that he raped the girl twice, said “I love her, and I will appeal the judgement.”
The suspect 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 to 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 [convict’s house] 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.”
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