…court orders convict to pay N1m compensation to victim’s family, name included in state’s sex offenders’ register
Rivers State Family Court sitting in Port Harcourt has sentenced a 75-year-old man, Promise Chukwumatti, to ten years imprisonment without an option of fine for defiling an 11-year-old girl.
The court also ordered the convict to pay the sum of one million naira as compensation to the victim’s family and directed that his name be included in the Rivers State sex offenders’ register.
Chukwumatti was arraigned on a one-count charge of defilement of a minor.
Delivering judgment on Wednesday, the trial judge, Justice Rita Oguguo, held that the prosecution had proved the charge beyond reasonable doubt through oral testimony, a confessional statement and other evidence presented before the court.
According to the prosecution, Chukwumatti had carnal knowledge of the minor on several occasions in his apartment, after luring her with money while she was on her way to school.
The court upheld the position of the prosecution counsel, Chief State Counsel Precious Ordu of the Rivers State Ministry of Justice, that Chukwumatti indeed committed the offence against the child.
Justice Oguguo noted that although the convict pleaded for leniency, the law prescribes life imprisonment for such an offence.
She said the court, however, took into consideration the fact that his children are motherless before opting for a ten-year term without an option of fine.
Describing the convict as a disgrace to fatherhood, the judge also issued a restraining order barring him and members of his family from going near the victim’s family.
While counsel to the convict declined to comment on the verdict, Ordu welcomed the judgment, describing it as one that would “serve as a deterrent to persons who intend to engage in such crimes.”
