Court sentences man, 47, to life imprisonment for raping 8-year-old girl

The judge held that the penalty would serve as a deterrent to those thinking of carrying out such a heinous crime in future.

A Family Court in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, on Wednesday, sentenced a 47-year-old man, Ita Okon, to life in prison for raping an eight-year-old girl.

The judge, Blessing Egwu, who found the convict guilty of the offence, also ordered him to pay N1 million compensation to the eight-year survivor.

The judge held that the penalty would serve as a deterrent to those thinking of carrying out such a heinous crime in future.

James Ibor, Principal Counsel of the Basic Rights Counsel Initiative, the NGO that secured the conviction, hailed the judgement, saying violence against women and girls must stop.

He said the judgement was a triumph of good over evil, especially in the fight against rape and other Sexual and Gender-Based Violence
in the state and the nation at large.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Law (2015) domesticated in Cross River in 2021, prescribes life imprisonment for any person convicted of rape. (NAN)