Man gets 2-year jail term for defiling toddler

A Plateau State High Court on Thursday, May 31, 2018,  sentenced a 40-year-old man, Sani Usman, to jail for two years for defiling a toddler.
Justice Iliya Ashoms handed down the sentence on Usman who had been on bail, after the court found him guilty of committing the crime.

Ashoms, however, gave the convict an option to pay a fine of N100,000 for the second year term, adding that he must serve the first year without any option.

He said the sentence was to serve as a deterrent to those who might want to commit similar acts.
During the arraignment, Mahan Mahuyai, counsel to the convict, had prayed the court to be lenient on his client, stating that he was a widower and had five children who needed parental guidance.

Mahuyai added that if long prison sentence was given, the children would be without parents in their lives which could lead them to get involved in social vices.

Earlier during the arraignment, the prosecutor, Ibrahim Saleh of the Plateau State Ministry of Justice, had told the court that the convict committed the crime at his residence located opposite Plateau Academy, Bukuru on November 11, 2014.

Saleh said the accused, who was a neighbour to the victim, lured the four-year-old girl into his room and raped her.
He said the victim‘s mother was preparing to bath her about 4pm when the accused suddenly lured the little girl into his room and had carnal knowledge of her while the mother was outside the house.

He added that the mother later saw the victim walking with difficulty, with blood gushing from her private part.

Saleh added that when the victim was interrogated, she led her parents to the accused after which he was handed over to the police.