Child Bride 'Killed Husband With Rat Poison'

A teenage girl is accused of murdering her 35-year-old husband and three others by lacing food she had prepared for a post-marriage celebration with rat poison.

Wasila Tasi'u allegedly asked a seven-year-old to buy the poison from a nearby shop - hours before the four people died suddenly after eating the same meal on 5 April.

Prosecutors believe the 14-year-old had regretted her marriage to Umar Sani, a farmer with several wives, and was looking for a way out.

The prosecution is seeking the death penalty in the case.

The child bride, from the village of Unguwar Yansoro, had sobbed quietly when she first appeared at Gezawa High Court in northern Nigeria. During the latest hearing, she entered a plea of not guilty.

Abdulrahim Ibrahim, their neighbour, has claimed he was offered some of the food, but "noticed some sandy-like particles, black in colour".

He told the judge: "I was not comfortable with the taste. It was only Umar who continued eating."

The four deaths have been brought under one murder charge, and the case has been adjourned until 22 December.

Tasi'u's father told the Associated Press that he was appealing to a Nigerian court to spare his daughter the death sentence

"We are appealing to the judge to consider Wasilat's plea," Isyaku Tasi'u said.

Wasila Tasi'u is being held in state juvenile custody.

The case had outraged human rights activists, who say a girl married to a man more than twice her age should be treated as a victim, not a criminal.

Child brides are common in the poverty-stricken, predominantly Muslim northern Nigeria region.

According to Human Rights Watch, it has been 17 years since a juvenile offender was last executed in Nigeria.