The police on Tuesday arraigned two women before the Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja for allegedly selling a three-year-old child for N650,000.
The defendants – Mercy Sampson and Stella Madueke – were arraigned on five counts bordering on conspiracy, kidnapping and obtaining money by false pretences before Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo.
The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.
It was gathered that the defendants allegedly kidnapped the child during a church service at the Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries, Agege, and sold the girl to one Chikodi for N650,000.
According to the prosecutor, Joseph Eboseremen, the defendants also fraudulently obtained the sum of N700,000 from one Magus Nwaigbo under the pretext of assisting in the adoption of a baby from an orphanage.
He said, “On March 24, 2019, in the Igando area of Lagos State, the defendants did obtain the sum of N700,000 from one Magnus Nwaigbo under the pretext that they had a two-year-old girl from the Holy Infant Orphanage home for adoption, a presentation they knew to be false.”
Eboseremen noted that the offences were punishable under sections 2 and 3 of the Kidnapping Prohibition Laws of Lagos State 2017.
Justice Taiwo ordered the remand of the defendants in the correctional facility and adjourned the matter till March 18, 2020. (Punch)
