An Anambra State court has remanded a 72-year-old medical doctor and two women for allegedly abducting and trafficking a seven-year-old boy, in what authorities describe as a deeply disturbing case of child theft and illegal sale.
The defendants, identified as Dr. Daniel Ikebuilo, aged 72; Ifunanya Ogbonna, 23; and Chidiogo Ogbonna, 20, were arraigned before the Children, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Offences Court sitting in Awka on Thursday.
They pleaded not guilty to a five-count charge bordering on conspiracy, child stealing, and unlawful sale of a minor.
Presiding Chief Magistrate, Mrs. U.E. Onochie, ordered that the accused be remanded at the Awka Correctional Centre pending the court’s ruling on their bail application, scheduled for August 13.
According to the prosecution, led by Inspector Chinyere Okechukwu, the offence was committed on April 30 in Okpoko, near Onitsha, where the two female defendants allegedly conspired to fraudulently take the child from his mother, Kosarachukwu Okpala.
Okechukwu told the court that the boy was sold to Dr. Ikebuilo for ₦700,000, after which the doctor resold the child for ₦2.3 million.
The prosecution noted that the crimes violate multiple legal provisions, including Sections 495(a) and 321 of the Anambra Criminal Code (1991), Section 31(1)(4) of the state’s Child Rights Law (2004), and Section 15(1) of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition and Protection Law (2017).
In a shocking revelation, Okechukwu disclosed that two of the suspects—Ifunanya Ogbonna and Dr. Ikebuilo—had previously been arraigned in March for a similar child trafficking case and were granted bail.
However, they allegedly committed the latest offence barely weeks after securing their release.
“Soon after they perfected their bail conditions, they went ahead and stole another child in April,” the prosecutor alleged.
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