Court remands mechanic for allegedly raping JSS 3 student

“The defendant took the 14-year-old girl to a hotel in Aguleri where he sexually assaulted her,” a police prosecutor told the court.

The Police Command in Anambra State has arraigned a 36-year-old mechanic, Chukwudi Okafor, alleged to have defiled a 14-year-old girl.

The defendant appeared before the state’s Children, Sexual and Gender-based Violence Offences Court in Awka on Thursday.

Mr Okafor was arraigned on a charge of defilement brought against him, to which he pleaded not guilty.

The Prosecutor, Chinyere Okechukwu, told the court that the defendant, who hails from Mmiata Anam in Anambra West Local Government Area, committed the offence sometime in April 2025 at Aguleri community in Anambra East Local Government Area.

“The defendant took the 14-year-old girl to a hotel in Aguleri where he sexually assaulted her.

“In the process, she had a fracture on her left leg which made her cry out and attracted the attention of the hotel management.

“The hotel management alerted the community vigilance group, who initially took the accused into custody, but he later escaped.

“However, on 27 April 2026, the girl’s mother spotted him within the community and alerted the police, leading to his arrest,” Ms Okechukwu, a police inspector, said.

The prosecutor said that the offence committed was punishable under Section 3(2) of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition and Protection Law of Anambra State of Nigeria, 2017.

She prayed the court to remand the suspect in a correctional facility as stipulated under Section 130(2) (a) (b) of the Administration Criminal Justice Law 2022.

However, the accused told the court that the girl was his girlfriend, and had claimed to be 19 years old and in JSS-3.

The Chief Magistrate, U.E. Onochie, ordered that the accused be remanded at the Awka Correctional facility.

Mrs Onochie adjourned the case until 10 June for hearing.

(NAN)