Family Seeks Justice For 12-Year-Old Sokoto Rape Victim
The Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Sokoto State, Suleiman Usman, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), on Friday, said the state government had put in place, a formidable team of lawyers to prosecute a rape case involving a 12-year-old girl.
Usman said he would personally lead the team in order to ensure that justice is done for the victim, who is mentally disabled.
He ruled out any favour to the suspects, who are alleged to be the “boys’’ of some high profile politicians in the state.
Usman explained that the delay in prosecuting the case was caused by efforts to establish a strong case against the suspects.
It was reported that the girl was allegedly raped by seven elderly men, who threatened to kill her if she exposed them.
The mother of the girl, Hajiya Jamila Tudun Wada, told Daily Trust that the suspects took advantage of her daughter’s condition to violate her.
Some of the suspects who allegedly committed the act were identified as Lele and Mohammed, who allegedly lured the girl to an uncompleted building.
According to her, the suspects were earlier arraigned before a magistrate’s court, which remanded them as they awaited a legal advice from the state’s Ministry of Justice.
“We did not know what happened thereafter, but we started seeing them in the streets.
“Some of them even came to our residence, bragging that they were out and we would not do anything about it because they had some prominent politicians behind them,’’ she said.
She was, however, optimistic that with the involvement of the commissioner, the suspects would get what they bargained for.
