Lecturer remanded over defilement, death of 13-yr-old girl
A Chief Magistrate Court sitting in Makurdi yesterday remanded a polytechnic lecturer, Andrew Ogbuja in prison custody over allegation of criminal conspiracy and culpable homicide involving a 13-year-old girl under his guardianship. The 51-year-old Ogbuja, a senior lecturer in the Department of Catering and Hotel Management in the Benue State Polytechnic, Ugbokolo, was arraigned before […]
A Chief Magistrate Court sitting in Makurdi yesterday remanded a polytechnic lecturer, Andrew Ogbuja in prison custody over allegation of criminal conspiracy and culpable homicide involving a 13-year-old girl under his guardianship.
The 51-year-old Ogbuja, a senior lecturer in the Department of Catering and Hotel Management in the Benue State Polytechnic, Ugbokolo, was arraigned before the court yesterday following the death of the teenager, Elizabeth Ochanya Ogbanje, who he and his undergraduate son allegedly raped serially until the deceased developed a health condition known as Vesico Vaginal Fistula (VVF) which led to her death.
Ogbuja was earlier remanded in prison on August 13, by an Upper Area Court in Makurdi for alleged rape and persistent molestation of the teenager who was brought to live with him at age five. He and his son, Victor (at large) allegedly sexually violated the deceased from when she was only eight-year-old.
The accused was allegedly granted bail afterwards which caused the family of the victim to raise alarm over the safety of their daughter. However, following the death of the deceased on October 17 which led to protests, Ogbuja was rearrested and re-arraigned.
No plea was however taken when the case came up for want of jurisdiction.
The Presiding Magistrate, Issac Ajim, therefore remanded the accused at the Federal Prison in Makurdi and adjourned the matter to November, 29 for further mention.
Meanwhile, the Benue State acting governor, Benson Abounu, has urged the police and judiciary to ensure that justice was done over the death of the teenager. Speaking through his spokesman, Ede Ogaba Ede, Abounu described the act as inhuman, shameful and deserving of nothing less than appropriate punishment for the perpetrators.