AFederal High Court in Abuja has sentenced a woman, Benedicta Usen, also known as Mrs. Carol Omomoh, to five years in prison without an option of fine for trafficking a young woman for prostitution.
Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a judgment delivered on Monday, ruled that the prosecution had proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt against Omomoh on all eight charges.
The judge imposed separate sentences of two years and six months each for counts one, three, five, and seven, while counts two, four, six, and eight carried five-year jail terms, all without the option of a fine.
However, the sentences will run concurrently, meaning she will serve five years in total, starting from February 3.
Justice Ekwo condemned Omomoh’s actions, describing her as a “barefaced liar, a crooked and dishonest human being.”
He noted that her audacity to deny her voluntarily given statement to the police further exposed her as a manipulative trafficker.
“The evidence also exposes her as being in the business of procuring young vulnerable women like Miss Cynthia Omoieke for prostitution abroad,” the judge ruled.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the judge has ordered the defendant’s conviction on all counts, stating, “People like the defendant must be removed from society for good.”
The judge continued, “I hereby convict the defendant on counts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 as charged. This is the order of the court.”
In the case marked FHC/ABJ/CR/121/2019, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) named Omomoh as the sole defendant.
The IGP’s amended charge, dated October 24, 2022, accuses Omomoh and the now-fugitive Mrs. Oyomiya Lamidi of conspiring in 2011 in Lagos to recruit and transport Miss Cynthia Loveth Ese Omoieke to Italy via the United Kingdom.
The charge alleged the offence was carried out through deception and the abuse of Omoieke’s vulnerability, an act punishable under Section 27 of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration (TPPEA) Act, 2015.
Additionally, in count five, Omomoh and Mrs. Lamidi allegedly facilitated Omoieke’s travel to Italy through the UK in 2011, promoting prostitution in the process.
This is also a violation under Section 27 of the TPPEA Act.
However, Omomoh pleaded not guilty to all charges, and the prosecution called two witnesses to support its case against her.
