Court file on rape of 5-year-old missing

Onimisi Alao, Yola

The case file on the rape of a five-year-old girl in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, has gone missing.

The case on which judgement was scheduled for Tuesday was adjourned to January 14, 2020 after the Judge, Hon Umar Isa of Upper Area Court 3, was told that the file could not be found.

Responding to the development, a rights activist, Nuwama Markus of Centre for Women & Adolescent Empowerment, Yola, said it was most unfortunate.

“This case was due for judgement two weeks ago but it was adjourned to today because lawyers were marking their Bar week,” Nuwama said, adding that it was sad the case had to be adjourned once more.

The sudden disappearance of the file came to light Tuesday afternoon when Police Prosecutor Ibrahim Aliyu reminded the judge of the case.

The judge, who had already entertained some cases, was told by his clerical staff that the file on the case was unavailable.

The judge ordered the staff to go get it from the registrar but was told the registrar was not on seat.

The judge then ordered that the file be produced by the January 14 date.

The case, which started in September 2018, involves a 25-year-old Aliyu Muhammed, who was accused of defiling the five-year-old.

The girl lived with her parents in the same compound with him in Yola Town, Yola South Local Government Area.

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Nuwama Markus, who has followed the case from the beginning, narrated how it began: “The mother of the survivor has two daughters. She was in the kitchen when she realised that the five-year-old was not with them.

“She asked about her from her elder sister who said she didn’t know where the younger sibling was. A few minutes later, the younger girl returned. She said she was in the room of Alhaji – that’s what they call Aliyu Muhammed in the compound.

“The mother asked her, ‘what were you doing there?’ The girl said nothing. But later in the evening when the mother asked the elder sister to bath the younger one, the elder sister found that her younger sister’s pant was bloodstained.

“They took the girl to the hospital where, upon examination, the doctor said she had been fingered. On reaching back home, the mother interviewed the daughter again, and after much cajoling, she said Alhaji used his fingers on her.”

Nuwama said the parents brought the matter to her organisation and they started the court process, expressing the hope that the next adjoined date would not come as another disappointment.