A Chief Magistrate in Owerri, Imo State, O.J. Uzoechi, has remanded a 63-year-old man, Chidi Onuogu, in the Owerri Correctional Centre for serially defiling a 12-year-old girl (name withheld).

The Chief Magistrate, who heard the matter behind closed doors in her chambers on Thursday, described the defendant’s action as unlawful.

Recall that the police in the state had arraigned the suspect on a one-count charge bordering on having unlawful carnal knowledge of the minor.

The police prosecutor, Esther Nzeh, told the court that the suspect defiled the minor on April 29 this year in his house at Amata in the Ikeduru Local Government Area of Imo State.

The charge sheet reads: “that you, Chidi Onuogu, male, on the 29th day of April 2026, at Amata Ikeduru in the Owerri magisterial district, did have unlawful carnal knowledge of one (name withheld) female, a girl under the age of 12 years and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 218 of the criminal code Cap C38, laws of the federation of Nigeria 2004 as applicable in Imo State.”

The victim told the court that the defendant defiled her in his house five times and threatened to harm her if she told anybody.

The court was surprised when the defendant stated that he committed the act in a dream and only found himself on the child when he woke up.

He also disclosed that he gives the child rice when she is hungry, a statement the court told him was not a justification to defile the 12-year-old.

The court ordered the remand of the defendant in the Owerri Correctional Centre, pending the report of the Director of Public Prosecutions on June 23 for possible arraignment at the family court.

Reacting to the decision, the founder of Stand For Humanity, a human rights organisation, Chidiebube Okeoma, said that his organisation was seeking justice for the minor and her family.

Okeoma, a journalist, said that some people were trying to subvert justice in the matter because of the child’s background, which prompted his organisation to take up the case and ensure that the defendant was arraigned.

He said, “We at Stand For Humanity Foundation are happy that the defendant was arraigned and remanded. We stepped in when we learnt that some people wanted the matter not to come to court. They were intimidating the minor and her poor mother.”

The human rights body insisted that the suspect be arraigned.

They expressed gratitude to the court for being bold in the decision it took in the matter by not allowing criminals to evade justice because their victims are poor.

While thanking the police for their effort, Okeoma assured that they will continue to follow the matter to its logical conclusion.

(Nigerian Tribune)

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