A Magistrate Court in Port Harcourt has found three people, including two women, guilty of planning, taking, and selling a 22-month-old child. They have been sentenced to 12 years in prison.
The convicted individuals are Victoria John-Barile, Jennifer Osuji, and Ugochukwu Okere.
However, Emmanuel Onyebuchi has been set free from three charges of planning, taking, and selling the toddler.
Chief Magistrate, Rita Oguguo, stated in her ruling that the prosecution successfully demonstrated that the guilty parties conspired on April 14, 2020, in the Umuojiohi community in the Afara clan in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State, to take and sell a baby.
Chief Magistrate Oguguo also emphasized that the prosecution was able to show without a doubt that Victoria John-Barile, Jennifer Osuji, and Ugochukwu Okere conspired and traded the child to Chinyere and Chioma for N500,000.
The Chief Magistrate instructed the Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu, to begin a search for Jennifer Osuji to start her sentence, and stated that the sentences of the guilty parties will run at the same time from the day they were put in prison.
Our reporter has learned that Chief Magistrate Oguguo also mentioned the lawyer for the second defendant in the case,
B.O. Egbuawa, was referred to the Legal Practitioner Disciplinary Council for investigation and disciplinary action for helping the release from bail and escape of his client (Jennifer Osuji).
Egbuawa reportedly obtained bail for Osuji from a high court after she failed to appear at the Magistrate Court during several attempts.
Osuji later stopped attending the trial, and her lawyer also stopped appearing in court.
In January 2024, the Lagos State Police Command arrested a suspected leader of child trafficking and labor syndicate after three months of gathering intelligence. https://punchng.com/police-arrest-suspected-human-trafficking-kingpin-in-lagos/
Child trafficking is a terrible crime that involves the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receiving of children for exploitation.
This exploitation can come in various forms, such as forced labor, sexual exploitation, child marriage, forced begging, or involvement in armed conflict.
Child trafficking often targets vulnerable children, such as those from poor backgrounds, displaced populations, or marginalized communities.
Traffickers employ different methods to trick, pressure, or compel children into exploitative situations, taking advantage of their vulnerability for profit or personal gain.
