Child bride faces death penalty in husband's death UNGUWAR YANSORO, Nigeria, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- A 14-year-old child bride is being tried in a Nigerian courtroom on charges that she killed her 35-year-old groom and three others with rat poison. The girl, Wasila Tasi'u, allegedly asked a young sister of one of her husband's co-wives to buy the poison just hours before she prepared a meal to celebrate her two-week marriage. Groom Umar Sani had several wives, said officials. Tasi'u "said rats were disturbing her in her room," the 7-year-old girl testified. A neighbor also invited to the meal decided not to continue eating the food when he noticed "sandy-like particles, black in color" and told the judge in the girl's hearing that he "was not comfortable with the taste; it was only Umar who continued eating." Tasi'u sobbed at her first court appearance and the judge in Gezawa High Court in northern Nigeria entered a plea of not guilty on her behalf. He rejected her lawyer's request that she be tried in a juvenile court system. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against her. The case has infuriated international human rights activists who say child brides should be considered victims, not criminals. Child brides are common in northern Nigeria. Thirty-nine percent of all Nigerian girls are married before they turn 18.