Sexual abuse suspect escapes to Cameroon

A sexual abuse suspect, Isreal Effiong, who is standing trial for allegedly sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl in Esit Eket Local Government Area, has absconded to Cameroon.

However, the trial judge, Justice Pius Idiong, while ruling on the application brought by the prosecuting State Counsel for the court to cancel the bail of the accused person, ordered the police to arrest the suspect in Cameroun to stand trial until the case was dispensed with by the court.

The accused, a father of two children who hailed from Afaha Ekpene Edi in Esit Eket, had pleaded not guilty to the charge and was granted bail in the sum of N400,000.

He was said to have jumped bail on January 18, 2022, prompting the trial judge to order the arrest of his father, Samuel Effiong, who stood as his surety.

The State Counsel had also urged the court to order the father of the accused to show cause why he should not forfeit the bond.

The father had told the court that since his son travelled to Cameroon, he had been pleading with him to return home, but he had vowed that he would rather die in Cameroon than return to Nigeria to face the charge.

Justice Pius, who is the Administrative Judge, Eket Judicial Division of the High Court of Akwa Ibom State, ruled that although the surety had forfeited the N400,000 bond, it did not relieve his son of his liability to stand trial for the offense of rape, which he was arraigned in for in court.