A High Court sitting in Nasarawa State has convicted Fred Ayokhai, a lecturer with the Federal University of Lafia (FULAFIA) for teaming up with his children, Emmanuela  Ayokhai, 18, Bob Praise Ayokhai, 23, and Saint-Dan Ayokhai, 21, to assault a female student, Blessing Mathias, a student over a man.

In October 2022, the lecturer, in the company of his children, was captured in a video assaulting Blessing, who had beaten up his daughter (Emmanuela), over a man they were both in a relationship with. They were said to have taken Blessing to an unknown location where she was beaten and stripped naked. Read the previous story here  and here.

Following the assault, they were arrested and arraigned in court with the lecturer being charged with criminal conspiracy, housebreaking, abduction and voluntarily causing grave harm without provocation and assault. His children were joined in the case as the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th defendants.

Delivering judgment, the presiding judge, Solomon Ayenajeh, on Thursday, April 20, convicted the lecturer and sentenced him to six months in jail for criminal conspiracy and another six months for assault. The judge ruled that the charges are to run concurrently and that the six months period in which Ayokhai has been in the custody of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS) will be counted

His children are to spend six months on probation due to their ages and will be punished with keeping the premises of the Nasarawa State High Court clean during their sentence. The judge also ordered that Bob-Praise, shave his dreadlocks.