TELL Magazine

A Port Harcourt Chief Magistrate Court has sentenced two women, Ada Ebere and Favour Godwin to 10 years and 15 years in jail for conspiring to steal and traffic a four-year-old boy, Uwana Emmanuel, at Igbo-Etche near Port Harcourt.

A third defendant in the case, Kodilichi Nwankwo, who had a baby in the correctional facility during the trial was discharged and acquitted for showing remorse while the case was on.

Chief Magistrate Felicita Amanze while delivering judgment said Ebere would serve her imprisonment with hard labour. She however ordered Nwankwo to report to the court every month for the next two years with the child she delivered while in the correctional facility.

A lawyer with the Federation of Female Lawyers, FIDA, Rivers State branch, Esther Achor Henrietta, who followed the case to the end, hailed the judgment and said it would serve as a deterrent to those involved in such crime.

“We have been following up even in the investigation. We have followed up in the trial of the matter. We have also worked hand in hand with the prosecutors to ensure that justice is served. And we are also using this medium to thank the magistrate and we hope that this will serve as a deterrent to other traffickers out there because the rate of child trafficking is on the increase.”