Court Orders 10 Strokes of Cane for Bus Conductor Who Slapped Female Passenger

Court Orders 10 Strokes of Cane for Bus Conductor Who Slapped Female Passenger

• Magistrate Ibrahim Emmanuel handed down the corporal punishment after the 20-year-old conductor, Abubakar Shehu, pleaded guilty to assaulting Hadiza Rabiu in a dispute over transportation fare.

A Kaduna Magistrates’ Court has sentenced a 20-year-old bus conductor, Abubakar Shehu, to 10 strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to slapping a female passenger twice during an argument over transportation fare. Magistrate Ibrahim Emmanuel, who delivered the judgment on Wednesday, held that the conductor should receive the corporal punishment after admitting to the charge of assault. The magistrate explained that the court was lenient with the convict because he did not waste the court’s time by pleading guilty to the offence. In addition to the caning, Magistrate Emmanuel ordered Shehu to write an undertaking to be of good behaviour henceforth. He also warned the convict to desist from such acts, stating that the court would not take it lightly with him if he appeared before it again for a similar offence.

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Earlier, the prosecutor, Inspector Chidi Leo, told the court that the convict committed the offence on July 24, 2026, at Kawo in Kaduna. Leo said that the convict had an altercation with the complainant, Hadiza Rabiu, over transportation fare and slapped her twice on the face. The prosecutor informed the court that the offence contravened the Penal Code of Kaduna State, 2017.

This sentencing follows a pattern of Magistrate Ibrahim Emmanuel taking firm action against offenders who plead guilty to minor offences. The magistrate has previously imposed similar corporal punishments in several cases. In February 2025, the same magistrate sentenced a trader, Jibrin Yusuf, to 10 strokes of the cane for assaulting his friend over a N3,000 debt and also ordered him to pay N230,000 in restitution. In October 2024, Magistrate Emmanuel ordered a 21-year-old scavenger, Ibrahim Usman, to receive eight strokes of the cane for stealing a she-goat. He also sentenced a 30-year-old mason to 10 strokes of the cane for stealing four bags of cement worth N15,000. In November 2025, the magistrate sentenced Kingsley Timothy to 15 strokes of the cane for stealing two phones valued at N650,000 from a church. Magistrate Emmanuel has also handled cases where bus conductors were involved in transport-related violence. In May 2024, he admitted a bus conductor, Saminu Illiyasu, to bail after he was charged with beating a tricycle rider with a log of wood. In another case, he admitted a conductor, Salisu Mohammed, to bail for allegedly beating up a motorcyclist.

Court Orders 10 Strokes of Cane for Bus Conductor Who Slapped Female Passenger