A High Court in Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State, has sentenced three men to life imprisonment for allegedly gang-raping an 18-year-old deaf housewife.

The prosecution counsel, Barrister Faridah Muhammad, stated that the convicts--Amiru Sani, Aliyu Umar, and Bashar Dan-Inno--conspired and raped the victim at her husband's residence in Wararin Zaromawa village, Gwandu Local Government Area of the state.

"The convicts broke into the victim's household while she was sleeping and forcefully had carnal knowledge of her. They choked her with a thick piece of cloth and tied her hands with rope before assaulting her one by one," Muhammad said.

She urged the court to convict the defendants as charged, highlighting that the law imposes a mandatory sentence for such an offence.

The prosecution presented three witnesses and submitted six exhibits, including statements in both English and Hausa from the three prosecution witnesses.

In their defence, the defence counsel, Barrister Ahmed Abubakar-Filgila, called the three convicts to testify.

Delivering the judgment, Hon. Justice Shamsudeen Jafar of High Court 7 declared that the court found the defendants guilty of the charges. He noted that the prosecution had established all the elements of the offence through the corroborated statements of the victim and the first defendant, which were not contradicted by the defence.

"Having found you guilty of the charge, you Amiru Sani, Aliyu Umar, and Bashar Dan-Inno are hereby sentenced to life in prison under Section 259 and Section 60 of the Kebbi State Penal Code Law, 2021," Justice Jafar declared.