A’Ibom Woman To Enjoy 28 Years In Prison For Stealing 2 pupils
Information reaching our desk that, a mother-of-three has been sentenced to 28 years in prison for stealing two pupils in Akwa Ibom State to sell in Osisioma Ngwa, Abia State.
Mary Okon Effiong was handed the sentence at the Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting in Uyo on 23 February 2021.
She had lured the 5- and 6-year-old pupils of Saint Philip’s Primary School, Use Offot, Uyo, with biscuits, on 12 November 2018.
The convict claimed to be a friend to their mothers.
In her extrajudicial statement, Effiong had told the Police that she went to the school and lured the two pupils following her agreement with one Blessing Sunday alias Mummy Vom from Osisioma Ngwa who engaged her to look for children in Akwa Ibom and bring to her in Abia State.
One of the children narrated in evidence how the convict took them in a Keke Napep to Itam Market, where she bought them new clothes to change their school uniform.
However, a man saw the convict in a bush undressing the children and raised an alarm. She was arrested.
Effiong was taken to the School, where the Headteacher identified the children as her pupils, who denied knowing the convict.
In his judgement, Justice Okon Okon described Mary Effiong, a native of Ekpri Nsukara Offot, Uyo, as an embarrassment to motherhood.
He said that for the convict to leave her own children to abduct other people’s children for financial gains, speaks volumes of her “wickedness”.
The judge held that “but for providence, the accused would have succeeded in trafficking the children from Uyo to Aba and selling them to a ready and willing buyer”.
The Court described Effiong as “a joy killer set to cause grief and inflict pains on other parents, while jealously protecting and guiding her own children”.
Justice Okon said, “the conduct of the convict was abominable and despicable and needed to be punished severely to serve as a deterrent to others of her ilk in the illicit trade”.
He held that the sentence is to run concurrently.
IBOM FOCUS understands that stealing a child is punishable under Section 380 of the Criminal Code, Cap. 38, Volume 2, Laws of Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria, 2000.
