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General News of Thursday, 15 July 2021

Source: www.mynigeria.com

Court sentences couple to 3 years imprisonment for confining 12-year-old in a fridge

The victim, Joy Emmanuel The victim, Joy Emmanuel

One Emmanuel Bassey and his wife, Esther has been sentenced to three years imprisonment by the Sokoto Magistrate Court for starving and confining their 12-year-old niece in an unused fridge for eight months.

The victim, Joy Emmanuel was rescued by the police in the suspects' home in the Sokoto North Local Government Area.

The couple stated that she was locked up in the fridge due to a mental condition, but checks by the police proved the statement to be false.

The spokesman of the Sokoto Police Command, ASP Sanusi Abubakar, confirmed that the couple kept the young girl in the fridge at their compound and starved her of food for eight months.

"When our men broke the door of the cage, the girl was too frail to walk because she was emaciated. We met her in a very horrible situation, urinating and excreting inside the cage. The girl was taken to the Specialist hospital for treatment,” he said.

The couple were charged for wrongful confinement and cruelty to a child. They were also charged a total of N50,000.