The High Court 1 sitting in Lafia, Nasarawa State, has sentenced one Ahmadu Yaro to 21 years imprisonment for the rape of a three-month-old baby in the Adogi community of Lafia Local Government Area.
The judgement, delivered on Monday, July 21, by the Chief Judge of Nasarawa State, Justice Aisha Mohammed Bashir, followed a five-year-long trial which began after Yaro’s arrest by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in May 2020.
Delivering the ruling, Justice Bashir described Yaro’s actions as “barbaric” and “a direct attack on the moral conscience of society,” stressing that the sentence was intended to serve as a deterrent to others contemplating such heinous crimes.
The case, filed under suit number NSD/LF191c/2020, was prosecuted by the Nasarawa State Government, with the court finding Yaro guilty beyond reasonable doubt of raping the infant.
Speaking on the judgement, the Senior Special Assistant to the Chief Judge on Protocol and Media, Enoch Ali Maku, told reporters that Yaro had been standing trial since 2020, and that all evidence presented during the trial pointed to his guilt.
“The judgement was passed by the Chief Judge yesterday being July 21, 2025,” Maku said. “He (Ahmadu Yaro) has been standing trial for the past five years, and it was confirmed by the Chief Judge herself that he actually raped the baby. The only remedy was for him to be sentenced to prison, and he was given 21 years.”
Maku added that the convict has the right to appeal the judgment within 30 days if unsatisfied with the verdict, although such cases rarely succeed on appeal due to the overwhelming nature of the evidence.
The judgement has drawn public attention across the state and beyond, with rights activists calling for more urgent reforms in the criminal justice system to ensure quicker trials and harsher penalties for crimes involving minors.
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