A Kano State High Court on Friday sentenced a 27-year-old man, Abdullahi Lawan, to seven years imprisonment for sexually abusing three teenage boys.
Lawan, of Rangaza Damagari area in Ungogo Local Government, Kano State, was convicted on three counts of sexual abuse after he pleaded guilty to the charges.
Delivering judgment, Justice Aisha Mahmoud sentenced the convict to seven years imprisonment on each of the three counts preferred against him by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Kano Command.
Mahmoud held that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt. She sentenced the convict to seven years imprisonment each without the option of a fine.
The judge also ordered him to pay a fine of N1 million. If he fails to pay the said N1 million, he would serve an additional two years in prison.
“The sentence shall run concurrently,” the judge said.
The Prosecutor and Zonal Commander of NAPTIP in Kano, Mr. Abdullahi Babale, said the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Kano Command, reported the matter to the agency on September 25.
He said that the convict committed the offense sometime in August 2024, at his shop situated at Rangaza Damagari.
“The convict procured gifts for the victims, between the ages of 10 and 13 years old boys, at his shop when they went to rent a small truck. In the process, he gave them N300, groundnuts, and sexually exploited them,” Babale said.
The prosecution presented four exhibits, including the confessional statement of the convict and the victims’ testimony to the court, to prove its case.
Babale said the offense contravened the provisions of Section 16(1) of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015 and was punishable under Section 26(1) of TIP ACT 2015.
The defense counsel, Mr. I.I Umar, pleaded for leniency on behalf of Lawan.
(NAN)
