THE Jigawa State government has adopted death penalty for child rapists as prescribed by the Child Protection Law.
According to the law, anyone convicted of raping a child below 10 will be sentenced to death, with no other option.
Commissioner for Justice and the Attorney General Musa Adamu disclosed this on Wednesday during an end-of-the-year press briefing in Dutse, the state capital.
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Adamu disclosed that the ministry received a total number of 196 case diaries while 178 pieces of legal advice were prepared regarding the case diaries.
“Out of the total number of the case diaries, 90 were rape cases; 27 culpable homicides; sodomy has 31; kidnapping and abduction have a total number of 18 cases; incest two; two acts of gross indecency; 20 armed robberies while road traffic offenses have two cases.”
“The ministry has prosecuted and defended a total number of 25 appeals before Court of Appeal, Kano Division, and has also completed the prosecution of 83 criminal trials before eight High Courts at Birnin Kudu, Dutse, Gumel Hadejia, Kazaure and Ringim. Thirty-four convictions and Forty-Nine defendants were discharged and acquitted,” he added.
He complained about the delay in criminal litigation as one of the significant challenges of the ministry, which he said was not peculiar to Jigawa State.
A reporter with the ICIR
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