A 47-year-old woman, Gertrude Akpan, has bagged a 10-year jail term for trafficking in children.
Justice Okon Okon of the Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting in Uyo sentenced the convict to the prison term without an option of fine on Wednesday.
Akpan, a mother of three, is an indigene of Ikot Eyo in the Nsit Ibom Local Government Area of the state.
Earlier, the prosecution told the court that Akpan bought a six-year-old boy in Uyo and took him to Owerri, Imo State, where she sold the victim to one Kate Ogbonna for N200,000.
The court further heard how one Ubong Ekwere on May 12, 2018, abducted the six-year-old boy in the custody of his grandmother and sold him to the convict for N50,000.
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The convict claimed to have retired as a matron from Immanuel Hospital, Eket in 2015.
She confessed that she had been in the business of child trafficking since 2008.
In his ruling, Justice Okon said, “Apart from the confession of the convict, the evidence of the prosecution witness that she assisted the police in the recovery of the child victim from the buyer in Owerri, remained unchallenged and therefore accepted.”
The judge ruled that the convict is “guilty of unlawful removal and transfer of the child from Akwa Ibom State to Owerri, Imo State.”
“It is sadistic that Gertrude (Akpan), a mother of children, indulged in selling the children of others, thereby depriving the innocent children of the natural love, care and upbringing of their parents. Such an evil trade must be deprecated, forestalled and checkmated by every right thinking member of society,” the judge said.
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