THE Federal High Court sitting in Asaba, Delta State, Tuesday, sentenced a 38-year-old man, Mr Samuel Ufor Papa to 12 years imprisonment for human trafficking.
Sentencing the convict who was charged on three-count amended charges of facilitating the trafficking of 20-year-old Miss Cynthia Ude to Mali, the Presiding Judge, Justice Toyin Adegoke said the prosecution proved its case beyond all reasonable doubt on count one which borders on facilitating the travelling out from Nigeria of a female victim.
Adegoke also found the convict guilty of count 2 bordering on facilitating foreign travel which promotes prostitution. She said: “From the totality of evidence adduced by the prosecution, I hold the view that the convict is guilty of counts 1 and 2 and is hereby sentenced to five years for count 1 and seven years imprisonment for 2. Both sentences are to run concurrently.”
The convict was on bail from the Benin zonal office of National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP for a previous offence.
Pleading for leniency for the convict who broke down in tears following his conviction, the Defence counsel, O.S Odenigbo, said the convict was a first offender, adding that the convict had not seen his pregnant wife who had given birth since 2017 when he was incarcerated.
He held that the convict’s family were exposed to hardship and difficulty as a result of his incarceration.
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