Wasila Tasiu: 14 year old girl charged with murder

Prosecutor Lamido Abba Soron-Dinki asked the High Court in Gezawa, Kano state, to ‘terminate the case of culpable homicide against Wasila Tasi’u, who was 14 when she married Umar Sani, reports said.

Police previously said Wasila had ‘admitted’ murdering her 35-year-old husband by signing a confession she could not read – with her thumbprint. Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for the teenager, whose farmer husband was found dead just days after marrying her in April last year.

Garba , father of Wasila’s husband

Human rights campaigners continually expressed outrage over her treatment, saying she should be seen as a victim of abuse.

But the case prompted mixed reactions in her impoverished home state of Kano, where Sharia (Islamic) law is in place alongside the laws of the government.

That, claim some followers, allows child marriage – and 14 is a normal age for a bride.

The first wife of the deceased said it was Wasila that served the man his last meal as she was going to share his bed on the tragic day.

‘After putting the food in the dish I didn’t see anybody put anything in it,’ Ramatu said – but later she saw her husband foaming at the mouth and unable to walk.

A seven-year-old girl also gave evidence that Wasila sent her to buy rat poison.

‘She said rats were disturbing her in her room,’ said Hamziyya, the seven year old girl, who was Ramatu’s sister.
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