RIVER STATE-(MaraviPost)-A woman in Nigeria has been sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment for selling two-year-old son at the sum of N400,000.
The Magistrate’s Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, passed the ruling on Friday after finding the convict and her accomplice guilty of child trafficking.
Chinaza Smart, the mother of the minor, and Amarachi Ahukanna, allegedly conspired to sell the child to use the money to travel to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where the mother of the victim could earn N400,000 monthly, Punch reported.
Ahukanna told the mother of the victim that she also sold her own children to travel to Dubai. The two sold the two-year-old child to a woman at Ihiala, Anambra State, and till date, the child has not been found.
Passing the verdict, the Chief Magistrate, Felicitas Amanze, said the two convicts committed a heinous crime against an innocent child.
She ruled that Ahukanna was a chronic and unrepentant child trafficker and sentenced the duo to five years on count one of conspiracy and seven years on count two of child trafficking, which would run consecutively.
Commenting on the matter, the legal officer with the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Mrs Esther Acho-Korienta, hailed the judgement and expressed the hope that it would serve as a deterrent to other child traffickers in the region.
