Man sentenced to 25 years in prison for kidnapping, raping minor

<p>One Mr Matthew Uyangha has been sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for abducting and raping a 13-year-old orphan (name withheld).</p>, <p>Justice Blessing Egwu of the Calabar Division of the High Court of Cross River sentenced Uyangha to prison on Thursday, NAN reports.</p>, <p>The rapist had drugged and abducted the teenage girl from Akpabuyo Local Government Area of the state and took her somewhere in Esuk Utan in Calabar Municipality.</p>, <p>There, he raped his victim continuously for two months before he was arrested by operatives of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC).</p>, <p>Delivering her judgement on Thursday, Justice Egwu held that the evidence against Uyangha was overwhelming, finding him guilty of a two-count charge bordering on abduction and rape.</p>, <p>Reacting to the judgement, the Principal Counsel of Basic Rights Counsel Initiative (BRCI), Mr James Ibor, commended the State and Judiciary for their determination to keep children safe.</p>, <p>Ibor said, “The judgment showed that there is no place for rapists in Cross River as the judgment is a strong statement that the State is willing to uphold the true spirit of the Child Rights Law, among others.”</p>