A Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has sentenced a 25-year-old man, Jerry Njoku, to seven years imprisonment with hard labour for defiling a 10-year-old girl.<\/p>\n
Justice Rita Oguguo delivered the judgment in Port Harcourt on Tuesday after the prosecution had proved the charge of defilement beyond reasonable doubt.<\/p>\n
In the judgment, the trial judge held that the offence was serious and demanded a firm judicial response to safeguard children and discourage similar acts within the society.<\/p>\n
Justice Oguguo consequently sentenced the convict to seven years imprisonment with hard labour and directed that the sentence run concurrently.<\/p>\n
The court further ordered the convict to pay the sum of N5 million as compensation to the victim\u2019s family to support the child\u2019s welfare and upkeep.<\/p>\n
The judge stressed that crimes involving minors remain among the gravest forms of abuse and must attract consequences capable of reinforcing public confidence in the justice system.<\/p>\n
The prosecution team had argued that evidence presented before the court established the elements of the offence and justified the reliefs sought.<\/p>\n
Reacting shortly after the judgment, prosecution counsel and Chief State Counsel in the Rivers State Ministry of Justice, Precious Ordu, described the verdict as timely and significant.<\/p>\n
Ordu stated that the judgment would have positive implications not only for the victim and her family but also for the wider society through its deterrent effect.<\/p>\n
According to her, the decision sends a clear signal that sexual offences against children will not be condoned and that offenders will be held accountable under the law.<\/p>\n
She further stated that the outcome of the case would serve as a deterrent to others who may be inclined toward similar conduct, and encourage greater respect for the rights and protection of children.<\/p>\n
The defence counsel, however, declined comments on the court\u2019s judgment.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n King Onunwor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has sentenced a 25-year-old man, Jerry Njoku, to seven years imprisonment with hard labour for defiling a 10-year-old girl. Justice Rita Oguguo delivered the judgment in Port Harcourt on Tuesday after the prosecution had proved the charge of defilement beyond reasonable doubt. In the judgment, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67315,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-356679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/67315"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=356679"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":356682,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356679\/revisions\/356682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=356679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=356679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=356679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}