A high court in Abuja has discharged a 40-year-old man who had been faced with accusations of the sexual assault of a six-year-old girl.

According to reports, the court acquitted Sunday Ogbonna, a resident of Jabi, Abuja, who had been arraigned on 13 February for allegedly raping a minor.

Ogbonna had been accused of luring the girl to a secret place at the Jabi Motor Park on 31 November and forcibly having sex with the girl, six years old at the time of the alleged attack.

However, Justice Abubakar Talba, the trial judge presiding over the case, threw it out of court today, saying there was insufficient evidence with which to find the accused guilty.

Delivering the judgement, the trial judge said there were inconsistencies in evidentiary statements given by prosecution witnesses.

Talba said the prosecution witnesses contradicted themselves and their testimonies proved unreliable as a result.

He further noted that the prosecution had failed to meet its burden of proof or provide any medical evidence in the case.

“Consequent upon the above findings, I hereby discharge and acquit the accused,” he said.