A Nigerian court has formally struck out a case against a
15-year-old girl accused of killing her 35-year-old husband with rat poison.
But Wasilla Tasi'u, who was aged 14 at the time of the alleged murder, was forced to spend another night in
custody because of delays in filing paperwork for her release.
The teenager was charged
with blameworthy homicide and faced a possible death sentence if convicted of purposely
lacing a meal she cooked for her husband, Umar Sani, with rat poison.
Sani and four others died
within hours in April last year.
Activists, who celebrated
as she was acquitted, had used the case to highlight the issue of child
marriage, which is common in mainly Muslim northern Nigeria.
They argued she should be
treated as a victim but Wasilla’s family maintain she was not forced into
marriage and that 14 was a standard marrying age in the region.
Her defence lawyer, Hussaina
Aliyu, on March 16 called for the case to be ignored on the grounds the
prosecution had failed to establish her intent to kill Sani and exactly how he
died.
The prosecution applied
for murder charges to be withdrawn on May 20.
The case was recessed
pending the agreement to her release from the attorney-general of the northern
state of Kano.
Judge Mohammed Yahaya, sitting at the High Court in Gezawa, near state
capital Kano city confirmed receipt of notification the state was
willing to drop the case.
"I have no
alternative than to pronounce according to law that the application of 'nolle
prosequi' (unwilling to pursue) is hereby granted," he told the
court.
"In consequence,
therefore, you, Wasilla Tasi'u, are hereby discharged."
Wasilla, who was in court
wearing the full-face veil or hijab, gazed at the floor during the hearing,
said nothing after the ruling and was taken back to a juvenile detention
facility.
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