Girl, 14, facing the death penalty for killing her 35-year-old husbandand three other people after lacing their food with rat poison appearsin court in Nigeria

• Prosecutors allege Wasila Tasi'u laced husband's food with rat poison
• She is also accused of the murder of three others with the same meal
• Court heard from a girl aged seven who says she was sent to buy poison 
• Judge Mohammed Yahaya entered a plea of not guilty for Tasi'u

                          

                                   

Wasila Tasi'u, 14, is on trial for allegedly murdering her husband, 35, with poison

A 14-year-old Nigerian child bride is facing the death penalty for allegedly murdering her 35-year-old husband with rat poison.

Prosecutors allege that Wasila Tasi'u, who comes from a poor, rural family in the north of the country, laced her husband Umar Sani's food with poison - perhaps because she regretted the marriage in April.

She is also accused of the murder of three other people, who are said to have died suddenly after eating the same meal prepared for a post-wedding celebration in the village of Unguwar Yansoro.

But the trial has angered activists who claim a girl who married a man more than 20 years her senior should be treated as a victim.

The case was opened yesterday with testimony from a seven-year-old child who says she was given money and sent to buy the poison on the same day Sani died.  

Prosecutor Lamido Abba Soron-Dinki's first witness was a girl identified as Hamziyya, who was living in the same house as Tasi'u and her husband at the time.

Hamziyya was identified as the sister of Sani's 'co-wife', referring to a woman the deceased farmer had married previously in a region where polygamy is widespread.

She testified that Tasi'u gave her 80 naira ($0.45, 0.36 euros) to buy rat poison from a local shop on April 5.

'She said rats were disturbing her in her room,' Hamziyya told the court.

                              

Wasila speaks with an unidentified defence counsel outside the courtroom during a break at her trial at Kano State High Court in the village of Gezawa

Father Tasiu Muhammad sits outside his house at Kaurar Naduni village, 62 kilometres outside the northern Nigerian city of Kano

Shopkeeper Abuwa Yusuf from the town of Unguwar Yansoro supported the story and confirmed selling the poison to the girl.

And neighbour Abdulrahim Ibrahim told the court that he was also offered the food allegedly prepared by Tasi'u - and saw Sani looking 'visibly ill' after eating.