A 47 -years-old security guard identified as, Obinna Andrew, has been sentenced to 16-years’ imprisonment by the Federal High Court sitting in Calabar, Cross River State, with an option of N3m fine for sexually exploiting two minors.
Justice Simon Amobeda, while delivering the judgment on Tuesday, reiterated that the sentence was to serve as warning to others, who were considering committing similar crime.
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He added that since the convict pleaded guilty without wasting the time of the court and was a first time offender, he gave him some considerations stating that the sentence would run from the day of the convicts arrest.
Mr Nduka Nwanwenne, the prosecuting counsel, said the convict was first charged on February 26, 2020, and was sentenced for violating the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015.
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He said the convict was arraigned on four counts in contravention of sections 15 and 16, subsection 1 of the Trafficking in Persons Act, which dealt with harbouring and sexually assaulting minors.
According to him, Obinna took the victims, who were stranded, into an apartment in the High Court Judges’ Quarters in Calabar and sexually exploited the girls after inducing them with Indian hemp and he even invited his friends to also do the same thing.
He further explained that one of the girls, pretended to want to ease herself, went out and jumped over the fence into the compound of a judge, while just tying a towel and she was apprehended which led to the arrest and subsequent prosecution of the convict.
He said “Director-General of NAPTIP, Mrs Julie Okah-Donli, had zero tolerance for issues of exploitation and trafficking”, and that’s the reason for the prosecution of the convict within a short time.
