By Meletus EZE
An Upper Area Court 1, Kasuwan Nama in Jos, on Tuesday sentenced a 33-year-old ex-convict, Francis Ehoche, to 10 years’ imprisonment for raping seven minors.
The convict had pleaded guilty to the charge and begged the court for leniency.
The judge, Lawal Suleiman, who passed the sentence without an option of fine, said it would serve as a deterrent to other would-be offenders.
Suleiman sentenced the convict to five years’ imprisonment for unnatural offence and another 10 years for rape.
He held that the sentences would run concurrently and with hard labour.
Earlier, the prosecutor, Ibrahim Gokwat, had told the court that the case was reported on March 3 by two complainants: Messrs Danladi Evih and Aniedi Godwin of Nabor Gwong Jos.
The prosecutor said that one of the defendant’s victims had cried out in pain when she attempted to urinate.
He said that when questioned, the six-year-old victim explained how `uncle’ Francis (the convict) had been abusing her.
“He had unnatural affair with the boys and raped the girls, some of the boys had serious damage done to their anus.
“The four-year-old girl’s case was the most painful of them all,’’ Gokwat told the court.
Gokwat said the offence contravened Sections 257 and 258 of the Penal Code—-NAN
