A Magistrate Court sitting in Port Harcourt has sentenced one Goodnews Thompson and Kperebong Emmason to 24 years imprisonment each with hard labour for child trafficking and theft.
The Court sentenced the convicts on three count charges bothering on Child Stealing, Conspiracy and Trafficking of Etim Gospel George on 18th October, 2018, at Komkom village in Oyigbo local government area, and he is yet to be seen till date.
Chief Magistrate Felicitas Amanze found Goodnews Thompson, the 1st Defendant and Sunday Jonah, 2nd Defendant who is died while in prison and Kperebong Emmason, the 3rd Defendant guilty of stealing and selling little Etim George for the sum of three hundred and fifty thousand (350,000)
The Court found them guilty under section 39 of the child right act, for stealing an only son of one Mary Gospel George, a widow who lost her husband sometime last year in a pipeline fire outbreak at Komkom in Oyigbo local government.
The Court held that it was an act of wickedness that for the two years of the case trial, the convicts refused to disclose to the court the whereabouts of the stolen child, even after so much pressure and efforts put in by the prosecution.
The court condemned the act of the 3rd Defendant, Kperebong Emmason, a mother of two children, for being so harden with no conscience to engage in the trafficking of another woman’s only child without a trace to date.
Chief Magistrate Amanze sentenced the convicts to 7 years imprisonment on count 1, 7 years on count 2 and ten years on count 3, making a total of 24 years jail term with hard labour which will run concurrently.
In an interview with our Correspondent, Counsel representing FIDA, kemi Ogunike, commended the wisdom of the court, noting that the convicts deserved the 24 years jail term for failure to disclose the whereabout of the stolen child.
“It is so pathetic that with all the efforts mounted on them, these convicts were so hardened not to reveal where this child is till now. We commend the wisdom of the court in unraveling this matter and arriving at the well-deserved judgement passed upon the convicts.
“It is an act of wickedness, it is callous and unacceptable, they really deserve the punishment granted them by the Honourable Court. We hope it serves as a deterrent to these convicts and others out there thinking of carrying out such evil acts in the society”
