Dutse — A 50-year-old Sariyyu Moham-med Baranda has been sentenced to death by stoning by an upper Sharia court in Dutse, Jigawa State.

Baranda, accused of raping a nine-year-old-girl on March 17, this year reportedly admitted that he committed the offence.

The judge, however, gave the accused time to think over his admission of the offence on three occasions, but he remained firm that he was guilty.

The prosecutor, Sergeant Adamu, pleaded with the court to deliver judgment based on the accused's admission of guilt.

The judge, Alhaji Jibrin Isa Gantsa, sentenced Baranda to death by stoning.

He would however receive 100 strokes of the cane and pay N10,000 bride price for defiling the girl before death is inflicted.

Baranda has one month to appeal to the Sharia court of appeal. Baranda is the first person to be sentenced to death since the state introduced Sharia penal code.