Awka, Anambra State’s Chief Magistrate’s Court recently handed down Victoria Enwerem (Anosike), 42, an 18-year prison term for kidnapping.
Enwerem was charged with conspiring to abduct children, falsely enticing and harboring children, and forcibly removing children from their parents’ legal custody on three charges at the Children, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Court.
Both the Violence Against People (Prohibition and Protection) Laws of Anambra State, 2017, and the Criminal Code, Laws of Anambra State of Nigeria, 1991, provide penalties for the offenses.
The defendant was found guilty of all three counts by the Chief Magistrate who presided over the case, Genevieve Osakwe.
The chief magistrate observed that there was a preponderance of evidence against the defendant based on the defendant’s oral testimony and the plaintiff’s witnesses’ submissions.
Osakwe, the judge, sentenced the defendant to four years in prison on count one, eight years on count two, and six months on count three for Enwerem.