17th May, 2011
A pregnant woman, Blessing Clifford, 33, shocked Mrs. S. O. Solebo, presiding magistrate of the Ikeja Magistrate’s Court when she pleaded to be sent straight to Kirikiri Maximum Security Prisons, Apapa, Lagos State, Southwest Nigeria for the offence she was alleged to have committed.
Clifford, who is six months pregnant was arrested and charged to court for using a pestle to break the head of a housewife, Rashidat Afolabi at their residence located at 13, New World Street, Ijegun, Lagos State, an offence punishable under Section 355 of the Criminal Code, 2003. When the charge was read to her, she pleaded guilty to the charge of assault, but declined to plead for leniency. She told the court she preferred going to prison than serving any other punishment for the offence.
Though her intention was not clear, she told the court that her husband, who impregnated her, was no longer living with her. Clifford alleged that the victim’s daughter disturbed her sleep and that Rashidat did not restrain the little girl.
When the magistrate explained to her the gravity of her offence and warned her that she could be jailed, she responded that the court should send her to prison.
The presiding magistrate, however, ordered that she be remanded in prison custody for three days before she will be sentenced accordingly.