Corpun file 16810

News24.com, South Africa, 14 October 2005

Lashings for teen lesbians

Abuja - A local disciplinary committee on Thursday in the Niger Delta ordered the caning of six teenage girls for unspecified same-sex behaviour that was described as an "abominable act".

A local vigilance group in Twon-Brass in Nigeria's Bayelsa state arraigned the girls before a special local action committee, and they were pronounced guilty on Thursday. The girls, between 12 and 17-years-old, were sentenced to 90 strokes of the cane each for their "shameful and abominable act".

The vigilance group said one of the convicts confessed to the crime and said a friend whose name she gave as Felicia introduced her into lesbianism. Felicia is still at large.

Two of the six girls were said to be mates in a secondary school in the area. - Sapa-dpa