Senior Magistrates Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has ordered the remand in prison custody of a 57-year-old man, Okosimeka Jamabo, for allegedly defiling a five-year-old girl.
Jamabo, a grandfather and landlord to the victim’s grandmother, allegedly had carnal knowledge of the girl at his home in Borokiri Sandfield on October 3.
The victim’s grandmother (complainant) kept the girl in the suspect’s custody when she was going to the market, but before she returned, the suspect defiled her.
The charge was read to him, but he was not allowed to take a plea.
Jamabo’s lawyer, C.A. Orukwala, applied for his bail, but the prosecutor, Police Inspector Godwin Nwinam, objected to the bail on the grounds that the case was about a capital offence and the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
He said the offence contravened Section 218 of the Criminal Code Cap 37 Vol. I Laws of Rivers State Nigeria, 1999.
Magistrate Gomba Osaro rejected the bail application and ordered that the bail be sought at the high court.
She said the suspect should be remanded in prison custody and the case file be forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for legal advice.
Osaro adjourned the matter till December 20 for DPP’s advice.
