A Chief Magistrate’s Court sitting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, has sentenced a 40-year old man, identified only as Godbless, to eight years in prison for defiling two underage children: a five-year-old boy and a four-year-old girl.
The court, presided over by Magistrate Utovie Spiff, jailed Godbless, an indigene of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state on two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a four-year-old girl and unlawful carnal knowledge of a five-year-old boy.
It was learnt that the International Federation of Women Lawyers took the case of Godbless to the police.
The convicted paedophile, who was said to be in the habit of indecently assaulting little children, variously had anal and vaginal sex with his underage victims.
It was also learnt that parents and guardians of the victims, on many occasions, forgave the man after receiving reports of his assaults on their children.
But on September 15, the Chairperson of FIDA in Bayelsa State, Dise Ogbise-Erhisere, was contacted by a concerned neighbour who reported a new case of the man’s sexual assault to her.
Ogbise-Erhisere, in company with two lawyers and members of FIDA, Boma Miebai and Amaso Daniel, reportedly lodged a formal complaint at the Ekeki Police Station in Yenagoa.
The police were said to have arrested the man, arraigned him on Tuesday before the court, where he pleaded ‘guilty’ to the the two counts.
Expressing delight over the judgment, Ogbise-Erhisere said it was victory for FIDA Bayelsa and a warning to paedophiles, children molesters and abusers.
Ogbise-Erhisere, who was also the complainant in the matter, said she was happy with the speedy dispensation of justice on the case.
She explained that she got a distress call from a concerned neighbour following the defilement of the unnamed boy.
“I was informed by neighbours that the convict is a serial molester of children and that the mother of the four-year-old girl caught him having sex with her daughter,” she said.
She commended the police for swiftly arresting and arraigning Godbless. She also lauded the members of the Medical Women Association of Nigeria, Bayelsa chapter, for their roles in treating the victims.
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