Ted Odogwu and Tukur Muntari

A Kano State High Court presided over by Justice Zuwaira Yusuf on Friday sentenced one Paul Owne to seven years’ imprisonment in addition to N100,000 fine without option for collaborating with six accomplices to kidnap under 10 years children from Kano and sold them in Onitsha, Anambra State.

Justice Yusuf sentenced the convict after he pleaded guilty to all the 38-count charge against him by the Kano State Government.

Delivering the judgment, Justice Yusuf categorised the offences into three classifications.

In the first category, the court upheld that the convict was found guilty in counts 2, 8, 9, 2, 27 and 34, hence, Justice Yusuf convicted him to seven years each without option of fine in addition to N100,000 fine. Similarly, the court found Owne guilty in count 3, 5, 10, 11, 22, 28 and 38 counts and was sentenced to seven years. In the last category, Justice Yusuf said Owne’s action was in contravention of count 4, 12, 13, 29 and 38 and therefore convicted him to four years on each count without an option of fine.

She ordered that all the counts should run concurrently.

The convicted person was arraigned before the court alongside five other defendants who pleaded not guilty to all the charges read over to them. The court ruled that their trial would continue