Two men, Umaru Hussaini and Zulkifilu Musa, have been arrested and charged in Niger State for allegedly conspiring and gang raping a 12-year old girl.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that the incident happened at Sabon Gari area of Kagara, headquarters of Rafi Local Government Area of the State, where one of the suspects, Musa, resides.
The suspects were charged before the Chief Magistrate Court sitting in Minna, the Niger State capital, who ordered them to be remanded in a correctional centre for alleged dastardly act.
They were said to have lured the victim into Musa’s room, where they allegedly had canal knowledge of her one after the other without her consent.
The Police prosecutor, Inspector Bello Mohammed Beji, had informed the Court that the defendants were arraigned before the Court for prosecution over the allegation of unlawful sexual intercourse with the victim, who is a minor, which contravened Sections 79 of the Penal Code Law and Section 26 (2) of the Niger State Child Rights Act 2021.
Inspector Beji further explained that one Lawal Haruna of the Sabon Gari area of the same address had complained to Kagara Divisional Police headquarters that the defendants, suspected to rapists, lured his 12-year-old daughter to the room and raped her one after the other.
According to him, immediately after the Police got the report, detectives swung into action and dispatched Police operatives to the scene and effected the arrests of the defendants.
“During Police interrogation, each of the two suspects confessed to having committed the offence,” the prosecutor noted.
When the charges were read by the Presiding Chief Magistrate, Hajiya Ummikhatune Mohammed, one of the defendants,, Umaru Husseini, pleaded guilty to the offence.
However, the second defendant, Zulkifilu Musa, pleaded not guilty to the offence.
Thereafter, the Police prosecutor, Inspector Mohammed Bello Beji, applied for the adjournment of the matteer to enable the Police to bring witnesses for the commencement of a full trial.
The Presiding Chief Magistrate thereby ordered that the defendants be kept in a correctional facility and adjourned the matter till 14th February, 2024, for mention while the defendants were remanded in custody over the alleged conduct.