Guardian Nigeria
A Federal High Court sitting in Calabar, Cross River State, has sentenced a 32-year-old man, Prince Joseph Ekpo, to six years imprisonment with N600,000 fine for trafficking and sexually abusing two minors.
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Cross River State Command, secured his conviction on May 23, in charge No. FHC/CA/86C/2023, filed on June 20, 2023.
Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu sentenced Ekpo after finding him guilty for sexually assaulting an 11-year-old and six-year-old minors on counts one and two respectively.
According to the court, the defendant was charged with a two-count charge bordering on trafficking in persons by means of deception and abuse of position of vulnerability.
The offences are contrary to Section 13(2)(b) of the Trafficking in Persons Prohibition Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015 and Section 15(b) of the Trafficking in Persons Prohibition Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015.
On count one, the court sentenced the defendant to three years imprisonment and a fine of N300,000. On count two, the court sentenced him to three years imprisonment and a fine of N300,000, amounting to N600,000. The sentences are to run concurrently.
Though the prosecution, in an application, applied that compensation be awarded for the rehabilitation of the victims, the court refused on the ground that the defendant was unable to perfect his bail bond of N500,000 being the sole reason he had been in detention since arraignment.
According to the court, awarding such compensation would transmute the sentence to a life imprisonment which is not the intent of the law under which he was convicted.
The court, however, ordered that a medical examination be conducted on the defendant by a medical officer of the Nigeria Correctional Service, because he admitted to having committed a similar offence in the past.
