The Federal High Court in Calabar on Thursday sentenced a couple to five years’ imprisonment each for attempting to sell their one-year-old son for N800,000.
Emmanuel Okechukwu Ogbodo, 28, and Peace Ufeabuchi Nnamonu, 22, were convicted on two counts: conspiracy and attempted child trafficking.
Justice Rosemary Oghoghorie sentenced each defendant to five years’ imprisonment on count one and two and a half years on count two, to run concurrently.
She further ordered that the sentences should commence from the respective dates of their arrest.
According to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Cross River Command, the couple attempted to sell their one-year-old son.
The child was to be sold to a third party for N800,000.
The agency said it received a tip-off from the intended buyer, which led to its intervention and the interception of the proposed sale. The convicts pleaded guilty to the two-count charge filed on October 12 and were arraigned on November 3.
They were charged under Sections 27 and 29 of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015.
