A member of Moham-med's family, a 50 year old condemned...

A member of Moham-med's family, a 50 year old condemned to death by stoning for raping a nine year old girl, informed the News Agency of Nigeria that the convict had had a psychiatric problem for the past 15 years. Tsangare, who disclosed that the necessary appeal papers were lodged with the state Sharia Appeal Court in Dutse, said the family was awaiting the response of the court for appeal hearing to commence. A lawyer for the family, Mohammed Gausu, said the defence would make a plea that the lower court was not just and fair in its treat, as it failed to take cognisance of the mental state of the convict, whom he claimed was mentally deranged, and that no witnesses were called throughout the trial. He said contrary to the provision of Section 36 of the constitution, the convict was not availed of the services of a lawyer throughout the trial. "Apart from the fact that the whole trial was carried out with record speed, the man was not granted adequate grace period as stipulated under the Sharia, to assess the judgement and file in appeal," the lawyer stated.