Justice Abimbola Awogboro of the Federal High Court in Lagos has convicted and sentenced a mother of five, Chinyere Raman, to 10 years imprisonment for engaging in the promotion of prostitution and human trafficking.
Justice Awogboro sent Raman to jail after she found her guilty of allegations of promoting the prostitution and exploitation and trafficking of one Chioma Osademen to Libya for prostitution.
The convict was arraigned before the court in 2019 by the legal team of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) on a two-count charge bordering on the offences.
NAPTIP had informed the court that the convict brought the victim, Chioma Osademon, for the sum of 300,000 Libyan Dinars from one Cameroonian (said to be Large), to subject her to exploitation and prostitution.
The agency had also told the judge that the convict was arrested on February 22, 2019, at the Muritala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, when she returned from Libya.
The offences were said to have violated sections 18 and 21 of the Trafficking In Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administrative Act, 2015 and were punishable under the same section of the Act.
The convict had pleaded not guilty to the charge when she was docked before the court.
Following her plea, the prosecution opened its case and called witnesses and tendered several exhibits. While the convict testified in her defence.
In her judgment, Justice Awogboro, held that the prosecution had successfully proved the two counts charge against the convict, beyond all reasonable doubt.
Justice Awogboro consequently sentenced the convict to five years on each of the counts.
The judge, however, ordered that the jail terms should run concurrently and commence from February 22, 2019, when the convict was arrested.
