On Friday, the Enugu North Magistrates Court granted N500,000 bail to one Blessing Eze, who is facing charges of alleged slave trading and unlawful imprisonment of four pregnant girls.
When the allegations were read to Eze, 27, whose residence was not included on the charge sheet, she pleaded not guilty to the two counts.
Following her counsel’s plea for bail, Mr S.N Solomon, the Magistrate, Mr J.N. Achi-Kanu, granted the accused bail with one surety in the same amount.
Achi-Kanu ordered that the surety’s address be confirmed and that proof of identification be shown to the court.
He then deferred the case until August 3 for a final hearing.
The prosecution, Mr B.I Ogbu, had previously told the court that on June 17, the defendant and others now at large colluded to confine the four females in her home.
According to Ogbu, the plan was for the girls to give birth to kids who would then be handed over to other hospitals and sold to potential buyers.
He said that the alleged crime was in violation of Section 319 of the Criminal Code of Enugu State, Revised Law of Enugu State, 2004.
The pregnant females were not in court, according to the Nigerian News Agency (NAN), and their ages were not revealed.
If convicted of the two counts, the accused faces seven and fourteen years in jail, respectively, without the possibility of a fine.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
