Truck pusher jailed three months for attempted rape

An Abuja Magistrates’ Court on Monday sentenced a truck-pusher, Onyekachi Okwonkwo, 18, to three months in prison for attempting to rape a minor. Okwonkwo of Jabi Upstairs, Abuja was arraigned on a count of attempting to commit indecent assault. The Magistrate, Mr Musa Jobbo, sentenced Okwonkwo with an option to pay N2,000 fine following his plea of guilt. “The punishment is to make you change your lifestyle from that of crime to being a good citizen,’’ the magistrate said. The convict in his plea for leniency said: I had an urge and could not control myself. Please I am begging for forgiveness, I am an orphan.” Earlier the Prosecutor, Cpl. Buba Irimiya, told the court that the convict had threatened to rape the little girl. Irimiya said that one Salama Audu of Jabi Upstairs reported the matter at the Utako Police Station on March 5. After the convict’s guilty plea, the prosecutor prayed the court to summarily sentence him under Section 157 (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code. The section states that “if an accused admits that he has committed the offence of which he is accused, his admission shall be recorded.” It adds that this must “be nearly as possible, in the words used by the accused and if he shows no sufficient cause why he should not be convicted, the court may convict him accordingly.’’ Irimiya said that the offence contravened the provisions of Section 285 of the Penal Code.