An Anambra State High Court has sentenced a final-year student to 35 years in prison for defiling a 10-year-old girl. The court also issued a bench warrant for his arrest and ordered that he be declared wanted.
A court gavel
The Children, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Court sitting in Awka, Anambra State, has convicted and sentenced a 27-year-old final-year Mass Communication student, Wisdom Edem, to 35 years in prison for the defilement of a 10-year-old girl.
Delivering judgment in Charge No. A/3C/2024, Justice Peace Otti sentenced Edem to 25 years in prison for defilement, five years for sexual abuse and exploitation, and another five years for inflicting physical injury on the child. The sentences are to run concurrently.
The Anambra State Government had arraigned Edem on a three-count charge under the Child’s Rights Law of Anambra State, 2004, and the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Law of Anambra State, 2017. The prosecution, led by Principal State Counsel, Mrs Chinelo Akorah, called six witnesses and presented exhibits, including the defendant’s statement and a medical report.
The court heard that the defendant invited the child to his residence on the pretext of featuring her in a comedy skit, before allegedly sending her younger sister on an errand and locking the child in a room.
In her judgment, Justice Otti rejected the defendant’s claim that the child had consented to the act, stressing that Nigerian law does not recognise a child’s consent to sexual intercourse. The judge held that the prosecution had established its case through the evidence presented in court, including the victim’s testimony, medical evidence and the defendant’s statement.
As Edem was absent when the judgment was delivered, the court issued a bench warrant for his arrest and ordered that he be declared wanted. It also directed that his photographs be circulated to the police and published to facilitate his arrest.
The court further ordered that Edem’s university should withhold his certificate until he completes his sentence, that he pay N200,000 in compensation to the victim, and that his name be entered in the Anambra State Sex Offenders’ Register.
