A Sokoto High Court has sentenced a 30-year-old-man, Lawali Bala, of Rikina Village in Dange-Shuni local government area of Sokoto, to five years in prison for sodomozing boys aged under 18.
He was arraigned by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and other Related Offences (NAPTIP) on five-count charges bordering on procurement of persons and sexually abusing same persons through the anus.
When the charge was read to him, he pleaded guilty and begged for leniency.
In his judgement, Justice Isa Bargaja sentenced him to five years imprisonment with a fine option of N50,000.
Daily Trust reported that Bala, who hails from Anka local government area of Zamfara state, is said to have been involved in procuring boys for anal sex for two years.
According to him, he was introduced into it by his fellow labourer in Niger state and since then he could not stop doing it.
He disclosed that he came to Rikina in search of better living, though his grandparents were originally from the area.
He confessed to Daily Trust that he had anal sex with children while they slept because they usually spent the night together at the residence of one of his victim’s father.
“I don’t give them anything because I used to do it when they were sleeping but not at the same time. If I [do] one today, I will wait until after a week before I do it to another,” he said.
Daily Trust learnt that he met his waterloo when one of the boys who caught him in the act and reported him to his father.
“Then the people of the community handed me over to Hisbah and asked me never to return to the area again,” he said.
One of the victims, a 13-year-old-boy, said, “Anytime I wake up in the morning, I used to feel the movement of something like thick water inside my anus with my trousers fastener either cut off or loosened.
“There was a time I caught him, loosening my trousers fastener but I was afraid to tell my parents, thinking they would not believe me,” he said.
The father of the boy said, “I am betrayed because this is the guy that I treated like a son, I sheltered him, fed him and even gave him clothing but look at how he paid me back.”
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