I speak only Igbo, rape suspect tells Abuja court

…as lack of interpreter forces adjournment

A 35-year-old man accused of defiling his four-year-old daughter, Onyebuchi Ezema, on Tuesday, caused a stir at an FCT High Court, when he insisted that he can only communicate in Igbo language.

The development stalled his arraignment before the court as there was no one who could interpret in Igbo. 

Efforts by the court to get a neutral professional language interpreter were unsuccessful. 

The presiding judge, Justice Asmau Akanbi Yusuf, then ordered the court registrar to arrange an interpreter on the next adjourned date, June 16.

Ezema, in a one-count charge, is alleged to have molested the girl between April 15 and 16 at Lugbe District of Abuja, an offence punishable under Section 1(1) of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act of 2015. Counsel to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, Cornelius  Dabeet, declined comment on the matter.

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