Couple bags three months jail term for assault on woman

– Teenager allegedly gang-raped by five boys in Kaduna

An Egor Magistrates’ Court in Benin City, Edo State, yesterday sentenced a husband and wife to three months imprisonment each for assaulting a woman and her mother, Mrs. Hope Ughabugo and Mrs. Tina Omogbai. The magistrate, Mrs. Florence Aghedo, sentenced the defendant’s Johnson, 44, and Patience Johnson, 36, after they were found guilty of one count charge of assault out of two filed against them.

Aghedo, however, gave the convicts an option of fine of N5,000 each. She also ordered the defendants to pay N10,000 to the complainant, Ughabugo as compensation. However, the magistrate dismissed the charge of conspiracy filed against the defendants, adding that there was no trace of conspiracy as they were husband and wife.

Earlier, the police prosecutor, Sgt. Daniel Ifidon, told the court that the defendants committed the crime on Aug. 20, 2019, at Benin Technical Road, Benin in Egor magisterial district.

According to the prosecutor, on the said date, Patience unlawfully assaulted the complainant, Ughabugo by hitting a fist on her stomach

“Ughabugo and her mother, Mrs. Omogbai had entered a keke cab at the Benin Technical Junction, when Patience forcefully tried to drag Ughabugo out of the keke.

“When Patience husband’s, Johnson noticed the action of his wife and another woman, he parked his car, without asking questions and joined his wife and assaulted Ughabugo’s mother by slapping her on her face.

“Mr. Johnson later took his wife away in his car. It was from the licensing office that he was traced to his place of work at Psychiatric Hospital in Benin, where he was arrested.” Prosecutor said

The prosecutor said the offence contravened the provision of sections 516 and 351 of the Criminal Code Cap. 48 Vol. 11, Laws of the defunct Bendel State of Nigeria, 1976, now applicable in Edo.

Meanwhile, an 18-year-old girl, simply identified as Jennifer, has allegedly been gang raped by five boys reported to be her friends in Kaduna State. It was gathered that the incident occurred some weeks back in Narayi, a small community in Kaduna south local government area.

The boys were said to have carried out the action on the teenager after giving her a liquid content — said to be a mixture of alcohol and drugs — to drink. It is understood that two of the suspected rapists have been apprehended while the remaining three boys are currently at large.

A lady had taken to the micro-blogging platform, Twitter, to narrate how Jennifer’s “family has been on the case for weeks, the only thing the police have been doing is extorting money from her family and they have two of the five guys in jail.”

Reacting to the development on her Twitter page, Hafsat Baba, the state Commissioner for Human Services and Social Development, on Sunday night, said the matter would be investigated while the perpetrators would be apprehended. “Thanks for reporting. We are on it, and we will surely get to the bottom of this and ensure #JusticeForJennifer,” she wrote.

When contacted yesterday, Mohammed Jalige, spokesman of the Kaduna police command, said the matter is still under investigation. “The case is still under investigation, maybe you should call me later in the day,” he said.