There was a mild drama at Gezawa High Court, Kano, yesterday as a girl-bride, Wasila Tasi, suspected to have killed her husband

and three others in April, failed to utter a word in court during her trial.

The high profile culpable homicide case that attracted the attention of the human rights community was nearly stalled by refusal of the 14-year-old suspect to speak.

Consequently, the presiding judge, Justice Muhammad Yahaya was compelled to enter a plea of ‘not guilty’ on her behalf shortly after the charged sheet was read and explained to her in the local dialect.

Wasila, looking perturbed at the dock, was repeatedly asked whether she understood the content of what was read before her, but each time she failed to utter a word as the court registrar ran through the four-count charge of culpable homicide punishable by death under Section 221 A of the Penal Code.