A Magistrate court sitting in Barnawa, Kaduna state, yesterday, ordered the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Azubuike Ihejirika, to produce one Lieutenant Colonel Williams Nzidee accused of raping a 16 year old girl.
This order,? according to the Chief Magistrate,? is subsequent upon the initial summons letter sent to the accused person through the Commandant of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) where he was serving which was returned to the court on grounds that the accused person has been transferred to a new formation in Benin.
Lt Col. M G Hammawa on behalf of the NDA Commandant had written a letter with number NDA/763/A acknowledging the receipt of the initial Court summons which was returned to the court.
According to the letter sent to the court, “I am directed to inform you that the officer has been posted out of this institution and has since been released to report to his new formation in Benin. In view of the above, I am further directed to return the court summons for your further necessary action.”
In hera ruling, however, Chief Magistrate Sa’adatu Sambo ordered that since the accused person was still serving in the Nigerian Army, the summons should be served on the Nigerian Army Headquarters to produce the accused person on or before the next adjourned date.
It would be recalled that LEADERSHIP reported how a teenage girl, 16, dragged the accused person to court over alleged rape.
In an application for issuance of a direct criminal complaint summons filed at the Magistrate court of Kaduna in the Kaduna Magisterial District in Barnawa, Kaduna South with case number KMD/19DC/2012 by the complainant, she accused the Colonel of committing an offence that constituted criminal intimidation, rape, acts of gross indecency, abductions and threat to life contrary to section 397,282,285,272 and 327 of the penal code.
According to the complainant, on the October 22, 2012, the accused person called her on the pretext of sending her on an errand and unfortunately for her the lieutenant colonel had an ulterior motive for inviting her into his house.