A Minna Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday sentenced five men to three -year imprisonment each, after they admitted committing adultery. They were, however, given an option of N 150, 000 fine each. The accused: Mohammed Faruk, Johnbosco Dedan, David Momoh, Sunday Ekuese and Vincent Emmanuel, were arraigned alongside Naomi Abdulmajeed on a two – count charge of enticing a married woman and committing adultery.
The Prosecutor , Inspector Emmanuel Danladi, had told the court that one Abdulmajeed Akin of Tunga, Minna, reported the matter at the Tudun Wada Police Station on April 28. Danladi quoted the complainant as alleging that his wife, Naomi, had intimate relationships with the other accused persons who each had sex with her on different occasions and at different venues.
He said that some of the accused persons were said to have slept with complainant’ s wife in her matrimonial home. The offences, he said, were contrary to sections 389, 387 and 388 of the penal code. When the charges were read to the accused persons, they all pleaded guilty and begged the court for leniency. The prosecutor thereafter asked the court to try them summarily in line with Section 157 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
He also prayed the court to order the accused persons to pay a compensation of N 500, 000 each to the complainant. Counsel to the accused persons , Obi Alex , however , prayed the court to temper justice with mercy, given their admission without wasting the time of the court.
Delivering his judgment , the presiding magistrate , Mohammed Hassan, sentenced the accused persons to three -year imprisonment each, or a fine of N150,000 each. He, however, ordered the complainant’ s wife to pay a fine of N 10,000 only. The judge also ordered the other five accused persons to each pay a compensation of N 100, 000 to the complainant.