Checking Incidence Of Rape Through Stiff Penalty

Members of civil
society groups and other stakeholders have expressed concern over the high incidence of rape in the country.
Although there are no national statistics on rape, newspaper reports are often awash with it, especially when under-aged girls are raped.
Civil rights groups say many rape cases are unreported because of the unwillingness of the victims to report to the police for fear of stigmatisation.
Available police records, however, indicated that Lagos where rape is almost a daily occurrence, reported 678 cases between March 2012 and March 2013.
For the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, statistics showed that about 28 rape cases had so far been recorded this year.
A sociologist, Mr Shuab Abdulhamid, said that the fear of stigmatisation was a challenge in the fight against rape.
“Fear of stigmatisation is the major challenge that denies rape victims their right to justice, especially in northern Nigeria.
“They believe that if such cases are reported there is a high tendency that their children will not be married, and that is why you see victims of rape are always at the mercy of rapists,” he noted.
Even when prosecutors are willing to do their job, they also complain that rape victims were usually not ready to cooperate.
“One of the challenges we face in prosecuting rape cases is that the parents of rape victims do not always cooperate with us.
“Most of the victims are not willing to come to the open court and testify; because during testimony the victim will be subjected to cross-examination which amount to exposing them more,” a police officer Simon Lough, said.
He explained that that was the reason a family court was introduced in the FCT to try rape and other matrimonial cases.
“That encourages people to appear before the court to give evidence.
“In cases where the matter went to court we always asked the court to try the case off camera so as to protect the image of the victim,” he added.
To check the high incidence, experts and other stakeholders had suggested the imposition of stiffer punishment on rapists, while victims should be protected and compensated.
A legal practitioner, Mr Paul Eshiemomoh, advocated the death penalty for rapists and described the act as barbaric and animalistic.
“Yes, I support the imposition of the death penalty for rapists because it will serve as deterrent to others,” he said.
Eshiemomoh said although the Penal Code prescribes a maximum sentence of 14 years imprisonment for the offence, it should be made stiffer, adding that the urge to rape is “something inherent’’. He also decried the poor handling of rape cases by the police.
According to him, shoddy police investigations had led to unsuccessful conviction of rape offenders.
“We have problem of shoddy investigation on the part of the police who are responsible for investigating rape cases,’’ he noted.
He said that the police lacked forensic equipment to investigate, analyse and dictate rape suspects.
“If a lady comes up with a complaint, and her underwear is taken for forensic analyses, in less than one hour the result will show,’’ he said.
It is the view of most lawyers that the police often file rape cases at the lower courts, which by virtue of jurisdiction, have no power to sentence an accused for more than two years jail term.
They, therefore, opined that all rape cases be tried at the High Courts which have jurisdiction and power to impose the maximum sentence on offenders.
In addition, Mr Ado Solomon, Director, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Gombe State, wants the National Assembly to expedite action on the passage of Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Bill.
According to him, the law should provide for compensation for rape victims, adding that rape was on the increase in Gombe State.
“Our women and girls face numerous challenges in the last couple of years; many have fallen victim to such bestialities like gang rape, incest and all manner of domestic abuse.
“It was confirmed that more than 31.4 per cent of the girls living with HIV reported rape as their first encounter,’’ he said.
Solomon said that the menace of rape was spreading like ‘wild fire’, noting that not much attention was paid to the problem.
“Most women and girls that are violated would rather suffer the psychological and physical trauma silently than reveal their encounter and the culprit goes scot-free.
However, senior lawyers have consistently appealed to judges to give serious attention to rape cases.
They called on judges to “apply the law on rape on the grounds that the criminal matter is now a social problem that must be given utmost attention’’.
Perhaps, it was against this background that the former Chief Judge of the FCT, Mr Justice Lawal Gumi, directed that all rape cases be filed at the High Court.
A lawyer, Chief Okey Wali (SAN), said that “rape is a social problem many people hardly want to remember, hence the offenders get away with it so easily’’.
“With the current situation now, where attention is focused on the offence, I am sure the judges will be left with no option than to give adequate punishment.
“This is because a concise action has to be taken to show the public the seriousness of the offence,’’ Wali who is the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) noted.
Experts and stakeholders want judges and prosecutors to give rape cases the attention they deserved.
Ubandoma writes for News Agency of Nigeria

Ahmed Ubandoma

L-R: Lagos High Court Judge, Justice Toyin Ipaye, Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Ayo Philips and Controller of Prisons, Lagos State Command, Mrs Cathrine Ononye, during the visit of Lagos Chief Judge to Kirikiri Minimum Prisons in Lagos, recently. Photo: NAN