A Katsina State magistrate court has sentenced a 30-year-old housewife who negotiated to sell her month-old twin baby girls, to 10 months in prison.
The Katsina police arrested Salima Lawal, last December, at Marabar Kankara, Malumfashi Local Government Area, as she attempted to dispose of the babies for the sum of N350,000.
Delivering his judgement in the matter after a summary trial, on Wednesday evening, Chief Magistrate Nurudeen el-Ladan, however, gave the convict an option to pay N10,000 fine.
He said that the court considered a number of reasons before arriving at the judgement, including the health status of the twins, number of days they spent in prison custody as well as remorse shown by the accused.
Ladan urged wealthy persons in society and non-governmental organisations to come to the aid of the woman who he described as being in abject poverty.
“Anybody attempting to sell her twin female daughters must be in total poverty,” the Judge said.
He noted that the offence of attempt to sell a minor runs contrary to certain sections of the Penal Code law.
The prosecuting police officer, ASP Hashim Musa, had earlier prayed the court for a summary trial in the case since, according to him, the accused had confessed to being guilty even before her arraignment.
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