34-year-old prophetess, Esther Asuquo and 49-year-old, Blessing Sunday, have been sentenced to 14 years imprisonment each for trafficking children between the ages of one and two at the sum of N500,000 in Akwa Ibom State.
The two women and others now at large had been accused of conspiring to commit a felony, child buying and selling in September 2013, contrary to Section 28 (1) and (2) of the Akwa Ibom State Child Rights Law, 2008.
The trial judge, Justice Okon Okon, found Esther and Blessing, the first and second accused persons, guilty of unlawfully removing and taking away two siblings without their parents’ consent and selling them in Abia and Anambra states.
The two were standing trial with a 72-year-old visually impaired man, Osueoluka Okoye, who was the third accused person.
But Okoye was discharged and acquitted over the inability of the prosecution to prove the charges against him beyond a reasonable doubt.
Delivering judgement on Thursday, Justice Okon held that “there is no evidence that the third accused gained financially for his role in the child dealing racketeering.”
According to PUNCH, the judge said, “The evidence adduced at the trial, which the court accepts as the truth, is that the father of the children (name withheld by me) went to the house of the estranged wife and took the children away.
“No matter how sentimentally persuasive and emotionally laden this argument may be, the fact remains that the two children were with their father when the father handed them over to the first and second accused persons.”
He, however, stated that it was incontrovertible that the father of the victims not only consented to but took an active part in giving away his children.
The court further held that “it is not open to argument or debate and contestation that a father has access to his children and thus, exercises lawful care over them whenever the children are with him. The reality and uncontroverted fact are that the father not only consented to but took an active part in giving away the children. Whatever was his motive is irrelevant and immaterial for the purpose of the provisions of Section 28 of Akwa Ibom State Child Rights Law, 2008.”
Justice Okon added that he “believes the evidence of the prosecution witnesses that the first and second accused persons benefited financially from their dealings with the father of the children (names withheld by me).”
He further said, “The first and second accused persons certainly engaged in child selling, which this court considers to be illicit and inhumane trade. I find no concrete, cogent and credible evidence, linking the third accused person, Osueoluka Okoye, to the selling and buying of the children beyond the fact that he sought the help of one Dr Edwin Ikechukwu Okoye to arrange for him to adopt a child from an orphanage for his sister in Anambra State, who paid N400, 000 for the child.”
“I condemn the actions of the first and second accused persons for their involvement in child dealing, a detestable and repugnant trade. I, however, take into consideration that the first and second accused persons assisted the police to recover the victims, who have been successfully reunited with their mother whose exemplary conduct in boldly exposing the child buying and selling cartel, I highly commended. I also take into account, the years spent by the accused persons in detention to mitigate their sentences.
“In Count 4, the first and second accused persons are each sentenced to seven years imprisonment. In Count 5, the first and second accused persons are each sentenced to seven years imprisonment. The sentences shall run concurrently.”