A High Court in Akure has sentenced a middle-aged woman, Patience Godswill, to seven years imprisonment for stealing and selling a two-year-old girl, Blessing.
Godswill and two others, Martha Ogboji and Nnomah Annaibe, were arraigned for stealing Blessing in Ondo state and selling her in Abia state for the sum of N300,000.
The convict, who was standing trial before Justice Bode Adegbehingbe, before it was reassigned, pleaded guilty to two counts charge of conspiracy and child stealing preferred against her while others pleaded not guilty.
The mother of the little girl, Taiwo Adesina, said her daughter was stolen on August 14, 2018, at Omifon, Ore, Odigbo local government area when she accompanied her cousin to buy biscuits.
“I later traced the girls when they did not return on time, but I met Amina crying on the way. So, she described a certain woman who collected Blessing from her after she had sent her (Amina) to buy bread. I raised an alarm and the matter was reported to the police,” she said.
The cousin, Amina Olaniyan, who also testified before the court, said she left Blessing with a strange woman who sent her to buy bread.
She said: “On our way, one woman stopped us and asked me to buy bread for her and she took Blessing from me. When I returned back to the spot where we met the woman, she had disappeared with Blessing. I can identify the woman if I set my eyes on her.”
The presiding judge, Justice Williams Olamide, sentenced Godswill to seven years imprisonment while he adjourned the case to January 18, 2022, for the continuation of the trial of others accused.
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