A 38-year-old man, Mark Amos, accused of raping eight-year-old, stands trial at the Plateau State High Court, has told the court that he was framed up.
On arraignment, he told the court that he was framed up by the minor for no justifiable reason. Earlier, the Prosecutor, Mrs L.P Fombot of the state Ministry of Justice, had told the court that Amos, a resident of Lamingo Estate in Jos East Local Government area, committed the act.
She said that Amos committed the crime by luring the minor into his room and had carnal knowledge of her. The prosecutor said that the offence contravened Section 208 of the Plateau State Penal Code and punishable by life imprisonment if convicted.
The accused in his statement said: “I accommodated the said victim and her aunt, one Miss Patience, in one of the rooms in our compound when she had problems and needed accommodation. “I noticed that aunt always beat the little girl.
“I did not do it, she framed me up, her aunty once told me the girl was used to framing people up,” he said. The victim, in her statement to the police, however, said that the accused had carnal knowledge of her four times and that she could no longer bear it and had to report him to her aunt. She said the accused person always warned her not to disclose the act to anybody. Justice S.P Gang ordered that the accused be remanded in prison custody until Aug. 20 for hearing.