Posted by By ANDY ASEMOTA, Katsina on
Minister for Information and National Orientation, Chief Chukwuemeka Chikelu exchanging views with UNICEF Country Representative to Nigeria, Mr. Ayalew Abai
Minister for Information and National Orientation, Chief Chukwuemeka Chikelu exchanging views with UNICEF Country Representative to Nigeria, Mr. Ayalew Abai
Five boys who are yet to start primary education have been arraigned before a Kastina Chief Magistrate Court over a missing N68,000. Scores of their relatives and curious members of the public thronged the court as early as 7.30 am, long before its proceedings began.
The alleged young offenders showed little or no understanding of the weight of the conspiracy and theft charge levelled against them as the court, their counsel and the police prosecutor tried to decide their fate.
Although no plea was taken in the case before they were cleared by the presiding Chief Magistrate, Alhaji Lawal Garba Abdulkadir, the tussle between the youngsters' lawyer and the prosecutor however held the crowded court spellbound.
Opening his case after the court had dispensed with all its formalities, the prosecutor told the Chief Magistrate that the boys purportedly entered the house of one Alhaji Hassan Shehu, around 10.00 p.m on March 25, 2005, through a window and carted away N68,000.
According to him, the complainant strongly suspected the boys, Aliyu (4), Usman (4) Abubakar (5), Abbas (6) and Mohammed (6), all children of his brother, Mallam Haruna.
The police claimed that the young residents of Katsina purportedly admitted the offence before they were whisked to the central police station in the city.
Counsel to the accused persons who reaised a preliminary objective to the charge urged the court to declare the police first information report as defective.
The court, according to him, lacks the competence to preside over any act purportedly committed by a child under seven years.
He argued that section 50 of the Penal Code states without ambiguity that no act is an offence done by a child under seven years of age'.
The Chief Magistrate explained that the young lads were considered incapable of knowing the consequences of their alleged act.