According to the prosecution, the convicted Jacob, deploying an intimidating tactic, had falsely accused his victim of stealing the cassava stems and threatened to report her to the owner of the farm unless she agreed to have sexual intercourse with him.
A court gavel
The Ikot Abasi Local Government Area Division of the Akwa Ibom State High Court has sentenced one Israel Emmanuel Jacob to life imprisonment for raping a thirteen-year-old minor.
The particulars of the case as presented by the prosecution in the matter showed that the victim had been sent by her mother to a nearby farm to fetch cassava stems to be planted during the farming season, but was unlucky to encounter the convict, who forcefully had carnal knowledge of her.
According to the prosecution, the convicted Jacob, deploying an intimidating tactic, had falsely accused his victim of stealing the cassava stems and threatened to report her to the owner of the farm unless she agreed to have sexual intercourse with him.
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When the victim refused, the defendant, the prosecution stated, forcefully grabbed her, tore her underwear, before gaining entrance to her private part – to repeatedly rape the little girl.
“The child cried out and raised an alarm, but no one came to her rescue,” the case file revealed, adding that the defendant later fled the scene after committing the offence but was arrested thereafter.
Consequently, the presiding Judge, Justice Ini-Abasi Udobong, has no other option than to pronounce a life jail sentence on him, holding that the prosecution has proven the case beyond every reasonable doubt to warrant the punishment, having found the convict guilty as charged.
