Man pleads guilty to raping three minors

A 52-year-old man, John Udensi, on Tuesday pleaded guilty to raping three minors, aged 10, 11 and 13.

Udensi, a resident of Angwan-Boarder, Tudun Wada in Jos, is standing trial on a three-count charge of rape, before a Jos High Court.

The trial judge, Justice Nafisa Musa, after listening to his plea, adjourned the matter to June 19, to enable the prosecution place all facts before the court, in view of the plea of guilt.

Musa gave the adjournment after the counsel to the accused, Mr. David Adudu, prayed the court for an adjournment to enable the prosecution and defense review facts in view of the accused person’s plea of guilt.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the accused person was first arraigned on Nov. 25, 2015, and was specifically accused of raping three minor girls.

The prosecutor, C. R. Parlong, of the Plateau Ministry of Justice, had told the court that the accused person committed the crime at his home, on different dates in 2015.

He alleged that Udensi lured the victims into his room to watch Television and raped them.

Parlong told the court that the accused had informed the police, in a confessional statement, that he committed the crime on Oct. 9, Nov. 18 and Nov. 20, 2015 at his home in Tudun Wada.

The prosecutor quoted the accused person as saying that the first and second victims entered his room while he was watching Television and started “touching” him.

According to the statement, the accused person warned her to stop, but she refused.

“The girl continued to touch me until we had sex with her while the second victim watched.

“Not long after, the second girl also entered my room to watch Television but ended up having sex with me,” the accused stated, while admitting that the sex sessions were repeated several times thereafter.

The prosecutor further quoted the accused as saying that he later lured another girl, aged 13, into his room and had sex with her but was unlucky as a crowd trooped into his house and beat him up before handing him over to the police.

The prosecutor said that the offense contravened section 283 of the Penal Code, an offense punishable with life imprisonment upon conviction.