Two men, Bishir Saidu, 31, and Lawal Maiinji, 38, have been remanded in Katsina Custodial Centre till December 16, 2020, for allegedly defiling a mentally-challenged girl.
The men appeared before a Katsina Senior Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, November 4.
Kaduna state police command told the court that the incident happened around 11am on September 16, 2020.
According to the police, the father of the victim, Abubakar Samaila, of TakeTsani village in the Rimi Local Government Area of the state, wrote a petition alleging that Saidu and Maiinji lured his 14-year-old daughter who “is of unsound mind” to a shop where they forcefully had sexual intercourse with her.
Samaila stated in the petition, dated September 28, 2020, that Saidu and Maiinji were his neighbours.
The two men were slammed with a charge of rape, which the police said was contrary to Section 254 of the Katsina State penal code law.
Their pleas were not taken as the Senior Magistrate, Hajiya Fadile Dikko, said only the High Court could try the offence.
The police prosecutor, ASP Sani Ado, told the court that investigation was ongoing into the case.
Dikko directed that the two accused persons be remanded in the custodial centre.
In a related development, a 30-year-old labourer, Akilu Lawal, of Bagori quarters, Makera-Funtua, was also remanded in the custodial centre till December 11, 2020, for sodomy.
Lawal was alleged to have had intercourse on two occasions with his neighbour’s son in an uncompleted building on August 24, 2020.
The victim’s father, Salihu Musa, reported the incident at the divisional police headquarters, Makera-Funtua, shortly after it happened.
