A 61-year-old Lebanese has been arraigned for child abuse at the Federal High Court in Jos, the Plateau State capital.
The suspect – Jabir Iskandar – is facing trial on a 16-count charge of child abuse and molestation instituted against him by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).
Iskandar, a resident of Giring in Jos South Local Government Area, is standing trial for offences relating to wilfully employing and abusing the vulnerability of the children by sexually exploiting them.
He is said to have committed an offence punishable under Section 13(2b) of the Prohibition Enforcement and Administration Act 2015.
The charges were preferred against the accused in connection to each of the minors that were abused at various times since 2017 that the offences were committed.
At the hearing on Wednesday before Justice Dorcas Agishi, two witnesses were cross-examined and they narrated how they were abused and molested by the accused.
The accused, through his defence counsel, applied for bail before the court which was objected to by the plaintiff on the ground that it will jeopardise the ongoing trial.
In her ruling, Justice Agishi adjourned the bail application hearing to June 24, with an accelerated hearing of the matter scheduled for the 27th, 28th and 29th of June respectively.
The accused has been in the custody of the Correctional Centre in Jos since April when he was first arraigned before the Federal High Court.
