- Father bags 6 months sentence
- Children to sweep court premises for six
A senior lecturer with the Department of History and International Studies at the Federal University of Lafia, Nasarawa State, Fred Ayokahi and three of his children have been sentenced to six months imprisonment for assaulting a female student, Blessing Mathias.
Ayokahi who had been remanded in the facility of the Nigeria Correctional Service, Lafia since October 2022, was convicted by the Nasarawa State High Court, in Obi Local Government Area of the state.
In October 2022, a video that went viral surfaced on the social media showing Ayokahi and his children assaulting and stripping Blessing, an orphan.
The lecturer was arraigned before Justice Solomon Ayenajeh of the Nasarawa State High Court, Obi.
The other suspects include Emmanuella Ayokahi, Bob-Praise Ayokahi, and Saint-Dan Ayokahi, who are all his children. The other accused person, Vera Ogbonnaya, is still at large.
They were charged with criminal conspiracy and physical assault with canes and sticks, contrary to sections 96 and 264, and punishable under sections 97 and 265, of the Penal Code (1963).
After processes were filed, issues joined and witnesses taken on the case with exhibits, counsel to defendants, A.U Idris, approached the court with an offer for a plea bargain, after his clients have pleaded guilty to the crime charged.
Delivering judgment on Thursday, April 20, the presiding judge, Justice Ayenajeh, convicted the lecturer and sentenced him to jail for six months for criminal conspiracy and another six months for physical assault.
The judge, however, said the sentences would run concurrently in consideration of the convict’s plea. He also explained that the six months Ayokahi had spent in prison would be reckoned with.
He said consequent upon the plea bargain and taking into cognizance their age, Ayokahi’s children were let off under a six months probation order for six months.
Justice Ayanejeh ordered that, within the six months period, Ayokahi’s children will be keeping the premises of the Nasarawa State High Court of Justice clean.
In a post-conviction speech, Ayokahi thanked the judge and parties involved for the consideration and the leniency accorded him.
