A commercial motorcycle (Okada) rider identified as Mustapha Aliyu is standing trial on a charge of culpable homicide for taking his three-month-old baby to a river and drowning him.
A Chief Magistrates’ Court in Minna has ordered that the 20-year-old Aliyu be remanded in prison custody.
Aliyu is standing trial on a charge of culpable homicide contrary to Section 221 of the Penal Code.
The prosecutor, ASP Daniel Ikwoche, told the court that Amina Zakaria, the mother of the baby had reported the matter to the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) on Sept. 8.
Ikwoche said that the complainant of Keranbadi village in Borgu Local Government Area of Niger alleged that she had the baby for the defendant out of wedlock.
The prosecutor said that the complainant alleged that the defendant had visited her at about 9:30p.m., on Sept. 7 and took the baby away.
Ikwoche said that the defendant took the child to his own village, Tamanai.
There, he threw the baby into a river where he eventually drowned, the prosecutor said.
When the charge was read to the defendant, he pleaded guilty and begged the court for leniency.
Chief Magistrate Hauwa Yusuf, however, declined to take his plea, saying that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter.
Yusuf directed the prosecuting police officer to forward a duplicate copy of the case file to the State Director of Public Prosecution, (DPPs) for legal advice.
She, thereafter, adjourned the case until Oct. 10 for further mention.
