An Abuja High Court on Tuesday remanded four women charged with child trafficking in police custody.
The police had charged the four women with criminal conspiracy and child trafficking.
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The women, now defendants, are: Precious Silas, 30, Ngozi Unukwuwa, 47, Chisinau Onukwuagha, 40, and Favour Ohebegeim, 25.
The defendants are all residents of Karimo, a neighbourhood in the phase three region of the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja (FCT).
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Court hearing
During a resumed hearing on Tuesday, the prosecution counsel, Donatus Abah, told the court that the defendants used three teenage boys for alms begging in the FCT.
The teenage boys were aged seven, eight and 12, according to Mr Abah.
The prosecutor told the court that the four defendants brought the boys from Imo with a promise to enrol them in schools.
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He alleged that the four women pretended to be blind and used the boys for begging for alms.
Mr Abah added that the women were, however, exposed by the Brekete Family, a human rights radio and television programme.
He further told the court that the offence contravened the provisions of sections 14(b) and 27 of the Trafficking in persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015.
The prosecutor added that the offences also violated sections 3(1), (2) and (3) of the Child’s Rights Act, 2003.
But the four defendants pleaded not guilty to charges against them.
Counsel to the defendants, B.C Nnadika, made an application for their bail. The prosecuting counsel, Mr Abah, did not oppose the application.
The vacation judge of the court, Justice Cyprian Agashieze, adjourned the hearing on the bail application until Wednesday.
Prohibited in Nigeria
Nigeria in 2015 enacted the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act which outlawed all acts of human trafficking in the country.
The Act prescribes imprisonment of not less than five years or a fine of not less than N1 million or both as general punishment for human trafficking.
However, the Act also prescribes imprisonment of not less than seven years or a fine of not less than N1 million or both as punishment for child trafficking.
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Several persons have been convicted of child trafficking across the country.
The Kano State High Court, in July 2021, sentenced a man, Paul Owne, to 91 years in prison for kidnapping and trafficking of children in the state for sale in Onitsha, Anambra State.
A Federal High Court in Port-Harcourt, River State, in 2019, sentenced three persons to a combined 12 years imprisonment for trafficking a two-year-old male child and one other child.
NAN
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