Three rapists get life sentence in Jigawa

Justice Ita Mbaba of the Court of Appeal, Kano Division has delivered six judgments in cases from Jigawa State High Court and imposed life sentence on three convicts.

The decisions are in three appeals and three cross-appeals. The appeals were filed by three convicts, Dauda Malam Mato, Ibrahim Yusuf and Rabi’u Usman through their counsel Olukayode Ariwoola Jr. against the entire judgments of Justice Musa Ubale sitting at the Jigawa State High Court, Birnin Kudu in three rape cases where five girls below the age of 11 were victims of the rapes.

The cross-appeals were against a 21-year prison sentence lodged by the Jigawa State government through its Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Dr. Musa Adamu Aliyu. The cross-appellant wants a maximum sentence of life imprisonment as stipulated by the law.

The three appellants were separately arraigned for rape based on the Penal Code (Miscellaneous Amendment) Law 2014 of Jigawa State. The law provides life imprisonment against convicts of offence.

In Ibrahim Yusuf versus State CA/KN/21/C/2021 the appellant in May 2017, lured four sisters of the same parents (names withheld) who were all below the age of 11 and had sexual intercourse with the youngest girl, a four-year-old at that time. 

The appellant had raped the girl after he inserted a substance that looked like a sponge into her private part. The Appellant had also undressed the other minor girls and played pornographic videos to them, after that, he washed his manhood inside a calabash and directed one of the girls to drink the water.

The convict also threatened to kill one of the victims if she revealed the incident. The crime was exposed to the police after one of the victims was persistently emitting foul odour, which attracted the attention of the victim’s parents, and the whole saga was exposed.

In Dauda Malam Mato v State CA/KN/19C/2021, the prosecutrix (names withheld), a 10-year-old female street hawker, was raped by the appellant in Kangire Village, Birnin-Kudu Council.

The victim was seen in distress coming out of the room of the appellant. And upon inquiry by members of the vigilante, she told them that it was the appellant who raped her. In Rabi’u Usman v State CA/KN/20C/2021, the appellant, it was discovered raped a 10-year-old girl. Both Mato and Usman confessed to the crime.

The Court of Appeal, after careful appraisal of submissions of the parties, dismissed the three appeals of the convicts and allowed the cross-appeals. In allowing the cross-appeals, Justice Ita Mbaba agreed with the argument of cross-appellants led by the Attorney-General. His Lordship ruled that the Supreme Court of Nigeria, in the case of Lucky v State, had decided that once a law provides mandatory sentencing, a trial court has no power to deviate from the provision. 

In Jigawa State, the Penal Code (Miscellaneous Amendment) Law, 2014, has imposed life imprisonment for rape convicts where the victim is below 14 years, as was the case in the three cross-appeals, as such the Court of Appeal sentenced the Appellants to life jail.