NCS Staff, 2 Others Bag 10 Years Imprisonment for Child Trafficking
From ERIC MOORE, Port Harcourt
A Magistrate Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has convicted and sentenced one Dennis Chimezie, Chidimma Maduka, who is a staff of Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) and Ifunanya Anderson, a staff of Ministry of Women and Social Welfare to 10 years imprisonment each for child trafficking.
The trial Chief Magistrate, Rita Oguguo, in her judgment, discharge and acquitted the second defendant in the suit, Favour Uche, who the court said did not have knowledge of the kind of help he rendered to Dennis Chimezie.
The three convicts were reported to have in 2021, involved in child trafficking of a set of three days old twins with the sum of N3.4million, from Imo State to Rivers State, where they were supposed to move the twin babies abroad.
Chief Magistrate Oguguo held that the statements of the convicts during trial proved admission of the offence and that the prosecution proved the case of child trafficking and conspiracy against them.
The Chief Magistrate expressed concerns that those who were supposed to care for children turned to be the people to expose the infants to danger leading to their death.
She thereby sentenced the three convicts to ten years imprisonment which is to run concurrently.
Pentoks News gathered that during the trial in 2021, after the arrest of the convicts, especially Dennis Chimezie, who received the babies from Ifunanya Anderson at Airport junction, Omagwa, the Police handed the babies to an orphanage home where the twins fell sick and were confirmed dead at Police clinic.
It was also learnt that the court had also visited the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital mortuary (UPTH), where the Chief Medical Director of UPTH, Professor Henry Ugboma, through the Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee, Professor Lucky Onatai, presented a document confirming receipt of dead twins.