- The court found the defendant guilty of the charges brought against him after the State tendered compelling evidence to substantiate its case.
In Anambra State, One Kenneth Nwangu has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for defiling his nine-year-old daughter and only child.
The middle-aged man was sentenced and convicted by the Children, Sexual and Gender-based Violence Court sitting in the High Court, Awka, the State capital.
The defendant was arraigned on a three-count charge by the state government.
The court found the defendant guilty of the charges brought against him after the State tendered irrefutable evidence to substantiate its case.
He was consequently sentenced to seven years imprisonment on count one – having sexual intercourse with a nine-year-old, an offence punishable under Section 34 of the Child Rights Law of Anambra State of Nigeria, 2004.
The court also sentenced the defendant to two years imprisonment on count two – inflicting physical injuries on his victim and one-year imprisonment on count three – causing emotional and psychological abuse on the victim.
The two offences are punishable under Sections 4 and 16 of the Violence Against Persons, Prohibition and Protection Laws of Anambra State of Nigeria, 2017.
In its ruling, the court used evidence presented by prosecution witnesses, including the victim, and also took into account the evidence that the defendant had been taking care of the victim from about one year after the mother left them, among others.
The court allowed the defendant to explain why he was raping his child and should not be given the maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Responding, the defendant initially denied defiling his child, claiming it was a woman he usually left the child with following the wife’s separation that got him arrested by the police over the allegation.
He, however, later admitted to the crime and pleaded for leniency, and his defence counsel also pleaded for mercy of the court, on the premise that the defendant was a first-time offender and had the victim as his only child, among others.
The court ordered that the seven, two- and one-year prison terms should run concurrently and that the victim should remain in the care of the Anambra State Government.
Reacting to the judgment, the Anambra State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof. Sylvia Ifemeje, who led the prosecution team in the case, welcomed the verdict.
He said it would serve as a deterrent to other offenders.
Ifemeje stressed that the state government’s zero tolerance for sexual assaults is non-negotiable
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