A mother of three who used her own half-sister as her slave after promising to train her in school has been sentenced to two years in prison.
A middle-aged woman, Glory Abang, has been sentenced to two years in prison for allegedly keeping her 12-year-old half-sister as her slave while exploiting and exposing her » to psychological for many years.
The sentence was handed down to the Akwa Ibom State-born Abang by a Federal High Court sitting in Minna, the capital of Niger State, on Tuesday, September 27, 2016, after she was arraigned by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).
The NAPTIP prosecutor had earlier told the President of the court, Hon. Justice Y. Bogoro , that Abang had engaged the girl child in activities that were exploitative, injurious or hazardous to her physical, social and psychological development.
Abang, a resident of Chief Palace, Goram, was arrested by the NAPTIP officials in July 2015, following a tip-off by her neighbours on the ill treatment she was meting out to her sister.
Upon investigation, it was discovered that Abang had taken the girl from her hometown with the promise of sending her to school but instead of doing as she had promised her parents, she turned her into her slave.
She was discovered not to have enrolled the girl in any school but rather engaged her in activities that were exploitative, including sleeping in a Poultry facility at her residence which is exploitative and hazardous to the child’s psychological development.’
When Abang was arraigned in court on a one-count charge, she pleaded guilty but pleaded for leniency.
Delivering his judgment, Bogoro convicted the accused and sentenced her to two years imprisonment under section 23(1) (b) of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015 which says:
“Any person who employs, requires, recruits, transports, harbours, receives or hires out a child to do any work that is exploitative, injurious or hazardous to the physical, social and psychological development of the child, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a minimum term of 2 years but not exceeding 7 years without an option of fine.”
