A Nigerian gardener in Kunkujang Mariama was sentenced to life imprisonment for raping a 7-year-old girl on Easter Sunday in 2025. However he was acquitted and discharged on another count of raping an 8-year-old girl because the prosecution failed to prove penetration.
Moses Ukwai who pleaded not guilty to both counts and testified as the sole witness in his defence claimed the allegations were fabricated because he is a foreigner and people in the village “don’t like him”. He maintained that he only spoke to the girls about God and gave them gifts as instructed by the church.
During the trial, the prosecution alleged that in April 2025, at Kunkujang Mariama, Ukwai who worked at the John Bosco Garden, used the promise of Easter gifts (salibo) to lure the little girls into the garden and molested them.
The seven-year-old girl recounted to the court how the accused pulled up her dress and assaulted her. The nine-year-old girl also said Ukwai pulled up her dress and inserted his penis into her vagina before giving them gifts and allowing them to leave.
Elizabeth Jatta, registered nurse testified that while the girls’ vaginal orifices remained intact, she discovered bruises on the seven-year-old. She testified that while general activities like bicycle riding can cause bruising, the location of the injuries “could not have been caused” by a bicycle.
The mother of one of the victims, testified that she noticed her daughter shivering and running a fever after returning from the garden. She confronted Moses Ukwai, who initially denied the allegations but later allegedly begged for forgiveness.
Accordingly, following the allegations, Ukwai fled Kunkujang Mariama. He was only apprehended a week later, on 27th April, after attempting to retrieve a bicycle he had left with a friend.
In her final determination, Justice SK Jobarteh rejected the defence’s claim that the allegations were a fabrication rooted in prejudice against his status as a foreigner.
She emphasised the extreme vulnerability of the victims and the breach of communal trust and invoked the maximum penalty under Section 4(1)(bb) of the Sexual Offences Act 2013.
(Culled from Kexx Sanneh)
