20-year-old Commercial Motorcyclist remanded in Prison for throwing his three-month-old baby boy into a River

A chief magistrates’ court in Niger State has ordered that a 20-year-old commercial motorcyclist popularly called `Okada’ rider, Mustapha Aliyu be remanded in prison custody for throwing his three-month-old baby boy into a river.

Aliyu is standing trial on a charge of culpable homicide contrary to Section 221 of the Penal Code. The prosecutor, ASP Daniel Ikwoche, told the court that Amina Zakaria, the mother of the baby had reported the matter to the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) on September 8.

Ikwoche said that the complainant alleged that she had the baby for the defendant out of wedlock. The prosecutor said that the complainant alleged that the defendant had visited her at about 9:30 p.m., on Sept. 7 and took the baby away. Ikwoche said that the defendant took the child to his own village, Tamanai. There, he threw the baby into a river where he eventually drowned, the prosecutor said.

When the charge was read to the defendant, he pleaded guilty and begged the court for leniency.

Chief Magistrate Hauwa Yusuf, however, declined to take his plea, saying that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter. Yusuf directed the prosecuting police officer to forward a duplicate copy of the case file to the State Director of Public Prosecution, (DPPs) for legal advice. She, thereafter, adjourned the case until October 10 for further mention.