The suspect has been remanded in a correctional facility.
The Anambra State Children, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Offences Court, Awka, on Thursday remanded 18-year-old Chibuike Agu, a tricycle operator, over the alleged rape of a 13-year-old girl.
The defendant is facing a one-count charge of defilement.
The Prosecutor, Inspector Chinyere Okechukwu, told the court that the defendant committed the offence between 2025 and June 2026, at No. 1 Miss Eleme Street, Fegge, Onitsha.
Ms Okechukwu said: “The defendant, who takes the girl to school with his tricycle, sometime in 2025, took her to his house and had carnal knowledge of her.
“The girl from then, continued visiting him three times a week, and when she goes on such visits, she steals food items and money from her aunt’s shop and takes them to the defendant.
“The matter was reported when the aunt’s shop started going down with money missing, and the school also reported that the girl only comes to school twice a week.
“The aunt’s husband questioned the girl, and she revealed that the defendant had been sleeping with her.
“After medical examination and enquiry at the Ntasi Sexual Assault Referral Centre at General Hospital, Enugu-Ukwu, a medical practitioner confirmed that the girl had been defiled.”
Ms Okechukwu said the offence is punishable under Section 34(2) of the state’s Child Rights Law, 2004.
She prayed the court to remand the defendant to a correctional facility, pursuant to Section 130(2)(a)(b) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law, 2022.
The Chief Magistrate, U.E. Onochie, ordered the defendant remanded at the Awka correctional facility and adjourned the case until 5 August for hearing.
(NAN)
