A Magistrate Court sitting in Port Harcourt has convicted and sentenced two young ladies identified as Chinaza Smart and Amarachi Ahukanna to twelve years imprisonment, for “conspiracy and child trafficking”.
Chinaza Smart and Amarachi Ahukanna, who are between the ages 21 and 28, were convicted for conspiring to sell a two-year-old Daniel Smart at N400,000 to a woman simply identified as Precious, who is now at large.
The Presiding Chief Magistrate, Felicitas Amanze, in her judgment, found the two accused persons guilty of the crime; which she described as “heinous” against an innocent child whose whereabouts are still unknown till date.
The court held that the 2nd Defendant, Amarachi Ahukanna, who introduced the first defendant, Chinaza Smart to the child trafficking business lied to the court, that she did not convince the first defendant to sell her son, in order to raise money to travel to Dubai were she can earn N400,000 every month.
The Chief Magistrate, while describing the second defendant as a “chronic and unrepentant child trafficker”, said the five years sentence on count one and seven years on other charges are to run consecutively.
The representative of the Rivers State chapter of the Federation of International Female Lawyers, FIDA, Esther Achor-Korienta, who spoke to journalists outside the courtroom, said FIDA is happy with the judgment delivered, warning that the organization is all out to ensure that child trafficking stops in the state. Continue Reading
