Kano Push For Death Sentence Against 14-Year-old Girl

14-year-old bride, Wasila Tasiu, has been charged by the Kano State Government with culpable homicide punishable by death.



The young girl who hails from Yansoro village, Gaya Local Government Council, had poisoned her soon to be husband and his relatives with rat poison to avoid the marriage.

This recent development follows the transfer of the case from juvenile court to a Kano State High Court over what judicial sources attributed to "lack of jurisdiction by the lower court".

Vanguard obtained the charge sheet title: "Application to prefer a charge under Section 185(B) of the Criminal Procedure code Cap.105 Laws of Kano State 1991, signed on behalf of the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice by a Senior State Counsel in the ministry, Lamido A Soron Dinki, lined seven prosecution witnesses.

The sheet states: "By the power conferred upon the Attorney General of Kano State of Nigeria under Section 211(1) (a) (b) and (c) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and Section 7 of the Criminal Procedure Code Law Cap. 37 Laws of Kano State which delegate powers, I do hereby seek, under Criminal Procedure Code, to charge for trial of Wasila Tasiu".

"That you, Wasila Tasiu, 14 years, of Yansoro village , Gaya Local Government Council, on or about the 5th day of April, 2014, at about 14:30 hours, at Yansoro village, Gaya within the Kano Judicial Division, did commit culpable homicide punishable with death in that you caused the death of four persons."

The young Wasila had allegedly poisoned to death, Umar Sani, 35, Hassan Alhassan, 25, Nasiru Muhammad, 13, and Indo Ibrahim, 12, with rat poison.

The suit will be heard on August 4 at Kano State High Court, the suspects lawyers have also been duly informed of these developments.

Death is too strong a punishment