Murder case opens against Nigerian child-
bride
on november 26, 2014 at 5:32 pm in news
Nigerian prosecutors opened their case on
Wednesday against a 14-year-old girl
accused of murdering her 35-year-old
husband, with testimony from a child
allegedly sent to buy the murder weapon:
rat poison.
Wasila
Wasila Tasi’u, from a poor, rural family in the
mainly Muslim north, could face the death
penalty if convicted in a case that has
outraged rights activists who say a girl who
married a man more than twice her age
should be treated as a victim, not a criminal.
Prosecutor Lamido Abba Soron-Dinki’s first
witness was a seven-year-old girl identified
as Hamziyya, who was living in the same
house as Tasi’u and her husband Umar Sani,
when the child-bride allegedly laced his food
with rat poison.
Hamziyya was identified as the sister of
Sani’s “co-wife”, referring to a woman the
deceased farmer had married previously in a
region where polygamy is widespread.
The seven-year-old testified that Tasi’u gave
her 80 naira ($0.45, 0.36 euros) to buy rat
poison from a local shop on April 5, the day
Sani died.
“She said rats were disturbing her in her
room,” Hamziyya told the court.
The prosecution alleges that Tasi’u instead
put the poison in the food she had prepared
for a post-marriage celebration, perhaps
because she regretted her decision to marry
Sani.
Judge Mohammed Yahaya, sitting at the
Gezawa High Court, has entered a plea of
not guilty for Tasi’u, who refused to respond
at a previous hearing on October 30 when
the charges were put to her.
Yahaya has rejected defence applications for
the case to be transferred to a juvenile
court.
Hamziyya’s testimony was supported by
Abuwa Yusuf, a shopkeeper in the town of
Unguwar Yansoro, who confirmed selling
the poison to the child.
Sani’s neighbour, 30-year-old farmer
Abdulrahim Ibrahim, testified that he was
offered the food allegedly prepared by
Tasi’u.
“When he brought the food (I) noticed some
sandy-like particles, black in colour,” he told
the court.
He ate four of the small balls made of bean
paste but “was not comfortable with the
taste”, he said, adding: “It was only Umar
(Sani) who continued eating.”
He said he later saw Sani in the garden
visibly ill and took him home.
While trying to care for Sani, he learnt that
three others who ate the food had died
suddenly.
Prosecutors allege that Tasiu’s poison food
killed four people and have joined all the
reported deaths into one murder charge.
Nigeria is not known to have executed a
juvenile offender since 1997, when the
country was ruled by military dictator Sani
Abacha, according to Human Rights Watch.