Addressing rising epidemic of rape cases

CITIZEN Janet is dead. The 18-year-old lady committed suicide a few days after she was gang-raped by three young men at gunpoint last month in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. As it usually happens in these dastardly offences, the perpetrators are walking free. Their escape from justice thus emboldens prospective rapists to commit more of such offences, knowing that the likelihood of being punished is slim. As a nation, the government has to show more interest in the growing epidemic of sexual violence and violation of minors in the country.

Rape – described as a man having a carnal knowledge of a woman without her consent went largely unreported in the past because of the stigma the society associated with the act. But it is not so anymore. Last week, Jude Uchendu, a consultant pathologist in the Central Hospital, Benin, Edo State, sounded the alarm that the hospital recorded more than 80 rape cases from March to mid-October this year alone. Bad enough, 90 per cent of rape cases are committed by people close to and trusted by the victims, people such as neighbours and relations. Sometimes, those who ought to protect the children are their tormentors as was the case when a police corporal recently raped a two-year-old girl in Mararaba, Nasarawa State.

While the offenders are allowed to go scot-free, the victims are left with lifelong trauma, inability to forge meaningful relations with the opposite sex, unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. And because of the unhelpful way the police attend to rape victims who are bold enough to report their ordeal, many cases don’t get to court or when they do, the trial lasts forever. The government, the law enforcement agencies and the judiciary, should wake up and fashion new ways of ensuring that rape offenders are punished for their crime. Only last week, the police in Ekiti State arrested a 34-year-old man for allegedly raping his neighbour’s 13-year-old daughter to death on the farm where the two families were working. In Jos, Plateau State, the police arrested five men for gang-raping a nine-year-old girl, and a native doctor who raped his 14-year-old female patient. This is cruel, and the offenders must face the wrath of the law.

Although there is no national law against rape in the United States, many states there constantly review their laws and update them in line with 21st Century developments. However, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation tracks every rape case as a matter of records. Our advocacy groups, NGOs and private individuals should mobilise the public to ensure that rape offenders face justice. This is what happened in India when six men gang-raped a 23-year-old woman last year on a bus. A nationwide protest by the populace after the incident forced the Indian authorities to tighten the laws. Strikingly, the trial lasted only seven months, with four of the offenders handed the death penalty in September. Nigerian authorities should follow such an example. Trials must be completed on time. This will at least assure the victims that their attackers are going to face punishment. Relevant laws should be fully enforced, and, if necessary, reviewed with a view to making them more stringent.

Strengthening the anti-rape laws will encourage more victims to come forward, as it has happened in India after the reform of the rape law and the convictions of the gang-rapists. However, the figures we have now are not representative of the growing menace of rapists. “This figure (over 80 cases in seven months) is only a tip of the iceberg because most of the people that are raped don’t come to the hospital to complain. The few victims that come to the hospital don’t pursue the matter as a legal case,” added Uchendu. Police officers at crime desks across the country have to be more helpful when victims of rape come forward to report attacks.

The rising cases of violation of children by adults, called paedophilia, deserve strong measures. These days, “trusted uncles,” teachers and even clerics – some fake – have been found to be major culprits. Last week, a “pastor” was arraigned before an Abuja High Court for allegedly sexually violating three primary school pupils. The innocent victims were aged between seven and nine. This is dangerous, alarming and evil, but it is happening almost on a daily basis across the country. While adults can offer some resistance, children cannot and lecherous adults take advantage of their vulnerability. Paedophilia is a grievous crime the society has to deal with. In Europe and the US for example, law enforcement agencies compile data banks on known or suspected paedophiles so that they can be easily tracked. Furthermore, paedophiles are required by law to inform the authorities when they are travelling out of their base, or when they are moving to another community. This is the way for Nigeria to go.

To stem the tide, women affairs and social welfare departments at the federal, state and local government levels have to start enlightenment campaigns to alert parents and their children to this crime and how to avoid being violated. Parents also have to spend more time with their children, be closer to them and teach them about sex education early in life, as being advocated by Mediacon, a Lagos-based NGO. The campaign should be intense and sustained; it should warn prospective offenders that severe punishment awaits them.

Punch