The trial of four dismissed soldiers in an FCT High Court was stalled on Wednesday due to the promotion of the presiding judge, Justice Maudashiru Oniyangi, to the Court of Appeal.
Oniyangi is among the 25 justices appointed recently by President Goodluck Jonathan to the Court of Appeal.
At the resumed sitting of the case, Oniyangi told the court that all the cases he was handling had been transferred to the Chief Judge of the FCT High Court.
Oniyangi said the cases would be reallocated to other judges soon for continuation.
The soldiers – Nse Eywdip, 33; Ugwu Mathew, 23; Emezien Uzonna, 24, and Efosa Ikhomoregbe – were alleged to have raped, assaulted and robbed seven sex workers from December 21 to 23, 2012.
The prosecution said the accused, who allegedly left their duty post at Wuse 2, seized the sex workers to River Plate Garden in Wuse 2 Abuja and robbed them of N104,000.
The prosecutor, Adama Musa, told the court that during the incident, one of the accused allegedly had sexual intercourse with one of the sex workers.
Musa said the accused were armed with official riffles when they allegedly carried out the act.
The offences are punishable under the Penal Code.
The accused had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
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