Murder case opens against child bride

Gezawa - Prosecutors opened their case on
Wednesday against a 14-year-old girl accused
of murdering her 35-year-old husband, with
testimony from a child allegedly sent to buy the
murder weapon: rat poison.
Wasila Tasi'u, from a poor, rural family in the
mainly Muslim north, could face the death
penalty if convicted in a case that has outraged
rights activists who say a girl who married a
man more than twice her age should be treated
as a victim, not a criminal.
Prosecutor Lamido Abba Soron-Dinki's first
witness was a seven-year-old girl identified as
Hamziyya, who was living in the same house as
Tasi'u and her husband Umar Sani, when the
child-bride allegedly laced his food with rat
poison.
Hamziyya was identified as the sister of Sani's
"co-wife", referring to a woman the deceased
farmer had married previously in a region where
polygamy is widespread.
The seven-year-old testified that Tasi'u gave
her 80 naira ($0.45, 0.36 euros) to buy rat
poison from a local shop on April 5, the day
Sani died.
"She said rats were disturbing her in her room,"
Hamziyya told the court.
Also read: Death penalty against child bride to
be pursued
The prosecution alleges that Tasi'u instead put
the poison in the food she had prepared for a
post-marriage celebration, perhaps because she
regretted her decision to marry Sani.
Judge Mohammed Yahaya, sitting at the
Gezawa High Court, has entered a plea of not
guilty for Tasi'u, who refused to respond at a
previous hearing on October 30 when the
charges were put to her.
Yahaya has rejected defence applications for the
case to be transferred to a juvenile court.
Hamziyya's testimony was supported by Abuwa
Yusuf, a shopkeeper in the town of Unguwar
Yansoro, who confirmed selling the poison to
the child.
Sani's neighbour, 30-year-old farmer
Abdulrahim Ibrahim, testified that he was
offered the food allegedly prepared by Tasi'u.
"When he brought the food (I) noticed some
sandy-like particles, black in colour," he told
the court.
He ate four of the small balls made of bean
paste but "was not comfortable with the taste",
he said, adding: "It was only Umar (Sani) who
continued eating."
He said he later saw Sani in the garden visibly
ill and took him home.
While trying to care for Sani, he learnt that
three others who ate the food had died
suddenly.
Prosecutors allege that Tasiu's poison food
killed four people and have joined all the
reported deaths into one murder charge.
Nigeria is not known to have executed a
juvenile offender since 1997, when the country
was ruled by military dictator Sani Abacha,
according to Human Rights