Man convicted for 9 years in prison after abandoning a woman he impregnated

 

A man has been sentenced to 9 years in prison after attempting to flee a chief magistrate’s court after being sentenced to two years in prison for abandoning a woman he had impregnated.

Mallam Zakaria, 31, of Pariya village in Adamawa State’s Fufore Local Government Area, was previously charged with deserting one Maryam Usman of Anguwan Yungur, whom he impregnated.

Maryam Usman filed a complaint with the Divisional Police Headquarters in Girei on June 16, 2021, alleging that Zakaria impregnated her and immediately started avoiding her and refusing to take her calls after she informed him of her pregnancy. Maryam also claimed that Zakaria conspired with a pharmacy owner, Sunday Assoga, to terminate her pregnancy, with the chemist unsuccessfully administering abortion pills to Maryam.

At the case’s resumed hearing on June 28, 2021, the convict, who was arrested by the police and charged in court on June 18, 2021, acknowledged to committing the crime, while his suspected co-conspirator was let off the hook.

On July 2, the adjourned date of the case, Magistrate Adamu Abdulrazak convicted and sentenced the defendant to two years in jail with the option of a fine of N150,000.

Zakaria, however, begged for permission to urinate immediately after his conviction and then fled by scaling the court fence.

The prosecutor and other security agents pursued him, and he was eventually apprehended with the help of pedestrians and spectators near the government house gate.

The magistrate recalled his case file and used Section 138 of the state penal code law to sentence him to seven years in prison for attempting to flee, for a total of nine years in prison without the possibility of a fine.