High
Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) sitting in Maitama, has
remanded an Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirate UAE) based Nigerian lady,
Rita Chinenye Ani, her elder sister, Ngozi Stella Ani (A.K.A Princess)
in prison custody over alleged human trafficking.
The
sisters and two other persons Ozigi Abdulkarim and Princewill James were
on Thursday, arraigned before the Court presided over by Hon. Justice
Yusuf Halilu by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking
in Persons (NAPTIP).
They
were taken to Court by NAPTIP on a 10 Count Charge that ran contrary to
Sections 13, 14, 18 and 26(b) of the Trafficking in Persons
(Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015. The NAPTIP legal
team was led by Mr Aondona Orti, Chief Legal Officer.
The
defendants were recently arrested by operatives of NAPTIP in two
operations in Gwarimpa, Abuja and Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. Rita,
who returned home from Abu Dhabi to perform her traditional marriage
rites preparatory to moving to the United Kingdom with her fiancé, was
arrested in Ibadan by the newly established NAPTIP- Rapid Response Squad
(NAPTIP-RRS).
The
lid of these suspects was blown recently when one of the victims
returned from Abu Dhabi after 4 months of forced prostitution by Rita
and under very excruciating conditions including flogging and the
insertion of hot boiling ring into her vagina when she does not make
enough money a day and forceful collection of the proceeds of the
prostitution from her by Rita.
The
Victim (Name withheld) who is 19 years old was recruited from Gwarimpa,
Abuja by her ex-boyfriend Ozigi Abdulkarim, Ngozi Stella Ani and
Princewill James for onward transfer to Rita Ani in Abu Dhabi UAE. They
prepared her travel documents, took her to Ogbomoso, Oyo State where
fetish oath was administered on her before the journey.
When
the case came up Friday, the four defendants who were represented by
Counsel pleaded not guilty to the 10 counts charge proffered against
them. Counsel to Rita and the elder sister Ngozi did not file a formal
application for bail; hence the Presiding Judge ordered that they be
remanded in prison custody.
Their
Counsel had earlier made an oral application to the Court for them to be
remanded in NAPTIP custody which the Court turned down.
Ozigi
Abdulkarim and Princewill James on the other hand, had through their
Counsel, M. Ojobor and Ugochukwu Opara made a formal application for
their bail.
The
Judge granted them bail based on the conditions that they must provide 2
Sureties each and that the Sureties must not be below the rank of a
Director in the Public Service in Abuja. The Sureties who must own a
house each in the FCT must show proof of being in service by presenting
their letters of first appointment and last promotion.
The case was subsequently adjourned to Wednesday13th September, 2017 for hearing.
No comments:
Post a Comment