A housewife, Mrs. Gift Nonye Ukatu, has bagged 13-year jail term for harbouring two girls who are under 12 years and using them for forced labour, as domestic workers and treating them as slaves.
Ukatu was convicted by a Lagos State High Court sitting at Ikeja and presided over by Hon. Justice Kudy Jose.
Head, Press and Public Relations (NAPTIP), Vincent Adekoye, disclosed this in a statement.
He said: “Ukatu was arrested by operatives of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) in 2015 in Lagos after a tip-off from concerned Nigerians who knew her activities.
“In the case with charge number 1D/2227C/2015, Ukatu, who earlier jumped bail but was re-arrested, was slammed with a six-count charge of harbouring two girls that are under 12 years old and using them for forced labour, domestic workers and treating them as slaves contrary to sections 22 (a), 23 (1) (a) and 25 (a) of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015.”
“When the defendant was arraigned in early 2016, she pleaded not guilty to all the counts. Trial, however, commenced on July 4, 2016 and the case went through full trial,” said Adekoye.
Delivering judgement late last week, Jose convicted Ukatu on all the charges and sentenced her to 13 years imprisonment.
On counts one and two, she was sentenced to five years imprisonment; counts three and five (one year imprisonment, and counts five and six (seven years imprisonment). The sentences are to run concurrently. Reacting, Director-General of NAPTIP, Dame Julie Okah-Donli, said that the judgement signalled the beginning of hard times for human traffickers in Nigeria.
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