Grandpa fined N15, 000 for raping girl, 9

Written by Daily Trust Saturday, 27 March 2010

ShareWith a promise of fresh maize, a Zaria-based 70-year-old man lured a nine year old girl to his garden at the Zaria-Kubanni River and raped her.

The event took place in the evening of Friday, March 19, 2010. A girl (names withheld) was sent on errand by her parents to one of the gardens located along the banks of Zaria’s famous Kubanni River to buy vegetables.

After she had bought the vegetables and while on her way home, according to eyewitness account, one of the farmers, Safiyanu Musa, intercepted her.

“He told her to go home and drop the vegetables and return to his garden to collect fresh maize that she could roast or cook,” Mustapha Umar Leader, one of the witnesses, began recounting the episode to Weekly Trust. “The little girl was so enticed with that promise hence she quickly rushed home to drop the vegetables with her mother. She was, however, lucky because while going back to the garden, she took her younger brother along to keep her company.

“According to what she told us, when she went back to the garden, she met Safiyanu Musa waiting for her but instead of giving her the fresh maize as promised, he asked her to remove her wrapper and pants. Uncomfortable with that request, the little girl vehemently refused, but Safiyanu removed his hoe’s holder and threatened to kill her if she raises alarm. That was how he forcefully removed her wrapper and pants and began his cruel attempt to penetrate her.

“As the little girl found the strange affair unbearable, she opted to cry in defiance to Safiyanu’s threats, according to Leader. The girl’s wailings alarmed her little brother who Safiyanu had earlier instructed to go and stay by the river bank.

“Hearing the wailings of his sister, the little boy suspected that all was not well with her hence he ran back home to tell his mother,” according to Leader.

“On hearing what was happening to her daughter,” Leader said, “the mother rushed to my house to inform me of her daughter’s predicament. We rushed to the Kubanni river bank where we met the girl in a heartbreaking condition crying profusely. Blood was all over the area of her private part; her eyes had changed as if she had smoked marijuana while her mouth was producing something like fumes. Having seen that, we didn’t wait to look for the rapist but rushed her to a private clinic, which is close to the area.”

After all the necessary diagnosis, the doctor confirmed that the little girl has been raped.

Leader and the girl’s parents went to look for Safiyanu. They were lucky, Leader said, as they met him in his house. According to Leader, after Safiyanu had confessed to his act, though after serious interrogation, he couldn’t produce the treatment money as it was only N6,000 that was found with him.

This made Leader and the girl’s parents to take Safiyanu to the Tudun Wada, Zaria, Police Division. At the police station, according to Leader, the police refused to accept the medical report that was obtained earlier even as they ordered a fresh medical report from the Gambo Sawaba General Hospital.

The police charged Safiyanu to Yan Azara magistrate court in Tudun Wada, Zaria with the medical report obtained from the Gambo Sawaba General Hospital. Based on that, the Court’s judgment that was delivered on Monday, March 22, 2010, sentenced Safiyanu Musa to four weeks imprisonment or a fine of N15,000.

The father of the girl, Malam Magaji Mai Yankan Farce, said they were not satisfied with the judgment but would leave everything to Allah.

“It is unfortunate that this thing happened to my daughter. If the condition we found our daughter after the raping is anything to go by, there is no way a person who committed that kind of offence would only get four weeks imprisonment with N15,000 fine. But since we don’t have the means to appeal the judgment, we leave everything for Allah to judge,” Mai Yankan Farce said.

While answering questions from the judge at the Yan Azara Tudun Wada, Zaria magistrate court, Safiyanu Musa said it was the devil that pushed him to rape the little girl. He pleaded for leniency as, according to him, that was the first time he was caught committing such an offence.

While delivering judgment, the presiding judge, Mr Gwade, said his court has considered the medical report obtained from the Gambo Sawaba General Hospital and other evidence and it was established that Safiyanu Musa had only assaulted the little girl. This, according to the judge, informed the judgment of his court.

The highlight of the events that took place at the court was the attempt by the sons and grandsons of Safiyanu Musa to stop pressmen from interviewing their scion. The youths, numbering about 30, threatened to deal with anyone who attempted to interview or take shots of their father. Despite that, however, a shot of Safiyanu Musa was taken inside the car that took him to the Zaria central prison.