Man sentenced to 25 years in prison for kidnapping, raping minor

One Mr Matthew Uyangha has been sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for abducting and raping a 13-year-old orphan (name withheld).

Justice Blessing Egwu of the Calabar Division of the High Court of Cross River sentenced Uyangha to prison on Thursday, NAN reports.

The rapist had drugged and abducted the teenage girl from Akpabuyo Local Government Area of the state and took her somewhere in Esuk Utan in Calabar Municipality.

There, he raped his victim continuously for two months before he was arrested by operatives of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC).

Delivering her judgement on Thursday, Justice Egwu held that the evidence against Uyangha was overwhelming, finding him guilty of a two-count charge bordering on abduction and rape.

Reacting to the judgement, the Principal Counsel of Basic Rights Counsel Initiative (BRCI), Mr James Ibor, commended the State and Judiciary for their determination to keep children safe.

Ibor said, “The judgment showed that there is no place for rapists in Cross River as the judgment is a strong statement that the State is willing to uphold the true spirit of the Child Rights Law, among others.”