An Abakaliki High Court in Ebonyi State capital has sentenced a middle aged man, Okpani Amah to ten years imprisonment for raping a two-year-old minor.
Amah raped the girl (name withheld) said to be his relative on August 5, 2023 at their compound located at Ufuesen Owutu community in Edda Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.
The convict was said to have gotten drunk at a wedding ceremony he attended a few hours after committing the act.
The victim was said to have joined other children in the compound to welcome him after he returned from the party before he lured her in thereafter and had sexual intercourse with her from her anus.
Having found Amah guilty as charged, the trial judge, Justice Solange Francis-Abba sentenced him to ten years imprisonment without option of fine.
The convict had blamed his state of drunkenness for the act.
In an interview with Assistant State Counsel Mrs. Ijeoma Mike-Ajanwachukwu, who prosecuted the matter, she identified negligence on the part of parents and guardians as a major reason for the high rate of abuse of children.
Explaining how the convict got jailed despite that the parents and other family members of the victim refused to give evidence, the lawyer said, “The victim and the convict are related and that was why the family refused to give evidence in court. The little girl was living with her grandmother, Mrs. Rosemary Amah Ajah at Ufuesen Owutu community in Edda Local Government Area of the state. So, on August 5, 2023, the woman while bathing the little girl of two years noticed she was in severe pain, feeling so uncomfortable, complaining that her anus was paining her. When asked what happened to her, she said it was Okpani that inserted his penis in her anus.
“So, the woman took her grandchild to the accused and insisted he sponsor the treatment of the raped minor at Ufuesen Owutu Edda health center but he refused with a claim that he had no money.
Because of his refusal, the matter was reported to the police in Owutu, from there, the matter came to Abakaliki and the man was arraigned and till now, nobody saw the girl’s family.
“I was able to get the phone number of the biological mother of the victim who lives in Aba, Abia State and she said “I have no case with anybody, I have taken my child to stay with me.” She was living in Aba and left her underage child with her old mother in the village. I got phone numbers of Rosemary Amah Ajah and Jonah Amah Ajah from the case file as well as their statements but both of them refused to appear in court for evidence.
“Despite all odds, I decided to continue the prosecution considering the age of that girl. With the man’s confessional statements and the police who recorded it, we were able to secure a conviction. In the confessional statements, he admitted to have committed the offence because he got drunk at the marriage ceremony he attended earlier that day; hence he was not aware of his actions.”
Calling on parents and guardians to be more intentional about being vigilant and watchful of their wards, the prosecuting counsel said, “I advise parents to be more careful about their children, especially under aged ones. If not for the little girl crying and complaining that her private part was paining her, they wouldn’t have known that the man had sex with her via the anus. Parents of these days are too careless.
The more careful they become, the less these child abuse stories will be heard. Imagine a child of two years straying to somebody’s room without her guardian/parents being in the know.”
