Justice Emmanuel Nkea of the Special Criminal Court yesterday convicted and sentenced one Assan Jarra, a resident of Sancha Moten village in the Lower Nuimi district, to four years in prison with hard labour for the offence of abduction.
However, Assan Jarra was acquitted and discharged on a charge of defilement of an underage girl at the village.
Justice Emmanuel Nkea, in delivering his judgment adduced that the accused was charged with the offence of defilement and abduction of an underage girl, and he pleaded not guilty to both counts.
He said the prosecution called three witnesses, while the defence testified but did not call any witness.
The trial judge in his judgment quoted the victim as saying: “I was picked up by the accused in the night at Barra, and he took me to Sancha Moten where I spent eight days with the accused. I had sex each night, and he took my money to stop me from escaping.”
He said that the prosecution did not tender any document to show that the victim was 14 years at the time of the alleged offence, adding that there was ambiguity with regard to the age of the victim.
Justice Nkea added that in any criminal case the benefit of the doubt goes to the accused person, even though there was evidence that the accused had canal knowledge of the victim.
He consequently acquitted and discharged the accused on the charge of defilement.
However, the accused person, Assan Jarra, was convicted and sentenced on the charge of abduction, to serve four years in prison with hard labour.
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