A 28-year-old man, Sama’ila Garba, of Sabuwar Kofa Quarter in Katsina on Thursday bagged a one-year jail term and 100 strokes of the cane for fornication.
The police had arraigned Garba before Sharia Court I, Katsina for the alleged offence, the News Agency of Nigeria reports. The arraignment of the accused followed a complaint lodged by Hussaina Isa, also of Sabuwar Kofa Quarter on November 12, 2010, alleging that Garba impregnated her.
The prosecutor, Mr. Abubakar Mamman, said the complainant also alleged that the accused lured her to have sex with him, which resulted in pregnancy and subsequent delivery of a baby. However, the accused pleaded ‘guilty’ and accepted that he had an affair with the girl.
Delivering judgment, Khadi Mustapha Saulawa said the court had found Garba guilty of committing fornication through his confessional statement. Saulawa said that based on Qur’anic injunctions and the sharia code, the court sentenced him to one year imprisonment without an option of fine and 100 strokes of the cane.
The khadi, however, ordered that the convict be given 20 strokes of the cane instantly, while the remaining 80 be administered while in prison.
This, he said, was because the convict might not withstand all the lashes at a go and directed the prison officials to complete the strokes.
Coiled out of The Punch New Paper
