Woman Bags 7-Year Jail Term Over N300,000 Child Sale
For stealing and selling a two-year-old girl, Blessing, a middle-aged woman, Patience Godswill, will be spending the next seven years in prison.
An Akure High Court in Ondo state found Patience, who was arraigned with two others, Martha Ogboji and Nnomah Annaibe, guilty of stealing Blessing in Ondo State and selling her in Abia State for the sum of N300,000.
Patience, who had been standing trial before Justice Bode Adegbehingbe, before the case was reassigned, had pleaded guilty to the 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 but went missing.
According to her, “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.”
The cousin, Amina Olaniyan who also testified before the Court said she left Blessing with a strange woman who sent her to buy bread and in her words; “On our way, one woman stopped us and asked me to buy bread for her and she took Blessing from me.
“When I returned 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.”
However, after sentencing Godswill to seven years imprisonment, the Presiding Judge, Justice Williams Olamide, adjourned the case to January 18, 2022, to continue the trial of other accused persons.