Women, rape & obnoxious law By - Patience ogbo

Here goes the grim list according to police records
In February this year villagers in Omuma (Imo State) found a 30-year-old man digging a shallow grave on a farm. He was about to bury a child’s corpse. Under questioning by police, the suspect confessed he had indeed raped a four-year-old girl to death .The little girl had been on her way to school when he lured her into the bushes and raped her.
Six-year-old P knew the men who attacked her in Ogbe-ljoh community in Delta State. They were her stepbrothers, a 19-year-old and a 16-year-old, who sexually assaulted her at home until she died from her injuries days later. The two brothers were arrested, they admitted taking turns with the girl and inflicting wounds on her body to stop her from struggling. The girl, scared by the young men's threats, told no one about the attack but her parents took her to the hospital when her stomach began to swell. She died there.
The Child Protection Network, a non-governmental organisation, told the police about the rape of a minor by a 62-year-old man, her stepfather. The 10-year-old victim said that he had frequently raped her when her mother was not in the house. “Daddy always sleeps with me when Mummy is not around, and always tells me not to tell anybody, else I would die," she said. "I have lost count of the number of times my step-father slept with me”. Her stepfather escaped but he was eventually caught and charged.
Civil groups, activists and lawyers say rape is widespread in Nigeria and not regarded as a serious offence under Nigerian law.
Under section 353 of the Criminal Code Act any person who unlawfully and indecently assaults any male person is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for three years. But section 360 of the Act regards the indecent assault of a woman as a misdemeanour which attracts a punishment of two years’ imprisonment..
The serious criminal offence of having carnal knowledge of a girl being of or above 13 years and under 16 years of age is classified as a misdemeanour which is punishable by two years imprisonment under Section 221 of the Criminal Code. Even then the accused may be discharged and acquitted if he can prove that he believed on reasonable grounds that the girl was of or above the age of 16 years,
A coalition of civil society groups marched to the office of the Deputy Governor of Lagos state in April 2012 with placards and chanting anti-rape slogans to draw the attention of the government to the rising number of cases and to demand the government strictly enforce the law on rape.
They accuse the police of turning a blind eye to the crime.
According to the Lagos state government, 427 cases of rape were reported in the state in 2012. This figure does not, however, reflect the scale of the problem because most rapes are not reported to the police. Ade Ipaye, the state's Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, expressed concern: “It is regrettable that other cases were not reported by parents wanting to protect the integrity and identity of the child-victim. Though the Office of the Public Defender (OPD) got positive judgments in respect of six rape cases recently, the Ministry had serious challenges in assembling evidence on rape cases because most of the cases were reported late."
Adaobi Egboka, executive director of LEDAP (Legal Defense and Assistance Project) said: "We are not saying the state government is doing nothing. But it has to do more. Rape cases should be prosecuted in such a way that victims and parents of victims will be willing to come forward and make reports."
Gloria Ebuji, executive director of Crime Victims Foundation, a non-profit organisation in Lagos, said the increasing cases of rape of minors are committed by people close to the girl such as her father, uncle, brother, the driver or her guardian: “These men are very close to the family and the girl trusts them ".
Likewise, Ene Sarah Unobe, executive Director of the Human RightsEducation and Awareness Centre (HUREAC), said family ties, law enforcement officers, culture, religion and tradition helped to protect rapists. "We have seen several cases of rape where the family will come and withdraw the petition, (saying) that their church or village members will solve it. Some victims are afraid of the stigma so they stay back and settle with the man and let him off the hook.
“Most of these girls come from very poor homes where they can't afford legal fees. In spite of having the Office of the Public Defender in Lagos State saddled with the responsibility of handling rape of minors’ cases, there is the challenge of money as the agency lacks adequate funds to carry out its activities. The parents then get tired and you see them collecting cash resettlement from the perpetrator, therefore allowing the rapists to go free".
Umar Manko, the commissioner of police for Lagos State, denied police gave rapists an easy time. "Honestly, I don't know what you mean by 'settling cases in police stations'. We prosecute rape cases that come our way in accordance with the law while we protect the identity of the victims. It is natural for the parents to want to withdraw the case because of the moral implication but the law must take its course," he said in an interview. "Somebody who defiled a child must go to jail as the law does not give room for the family to withdraw a case that is horrendous in nature."
The rape and murder of Cynthia Osokugu, a 26-year-old postgraduate student at Nasarawa State University, in July 2012 triggered outrage in Nigeria and abroad. Cynthia was killed in a hotel room in Lagos by men she met on Facebook. The men drugged Osokugu's drink with Rohypnol, a powerful sedative often used in rape cases, and tied her up before raping her. They recorded the scene for blackmail purposes, stole her mobile phones and then strangled her. The young men fled the hotel but called the hotel attendant to go and remove that “useless girl from the room”. Two men were arrested a month later and have been charged with her rape and murder.
But rapists are also targeting older members of Nigerian society. The Enugu-Umuada Igbo, a women's group promoting reproductive health and the rights of women, raised the alarm over the spate of rapes of older women. In Opi, Nsukka, local government area of Enugu State,. Kate Ezeofor, the group's president, said young men are targeting women aged over 70.
“At least 13 older women have been raped in recent times; the perpetrators were usually young men of between 17 and 25 years," Ezeofor said. "I can tell you that one of the rape victims is a blind woman. One has even died as a result of the disease she contracted from the incident.” Narrating their ordeals, the women blamed the leaders and elders in their community for shielding the suspected rapists from prosecution. Older women are targeted because they are more vulnerable but it is also feared that men rape old women for ritual purposes: it is believed to be a form of acquiring wealth in the eastern part of Nigeria.
The women said the suspected rapists were arrested by the police and detained at the State Police Headquarters in Enugu State but the elders of their village allegedly secured their bail in late 2011.The rapists subsequently took revenge on the women.
NC, a widow, said: “After the first rape, I relocated away from my husband’s house because the place was lonely but the bad boys still traced my hide-out and raped me a second time .The first time they came, I was with a small child. They broke my window and came in around midnight. I shouted and even started preaching the word of God to him but he was not moved. {Afterwards) he ordered me to bring my purse and took 5000 Naira inside it and left only N30. He said he was leaving the N30 because it is not good for a woman’s purse to be empty.
"After the incident, my husband’s relations moved me to a place in their neighbourhood to ensure my protection. So, I have been living with them since last year, until two weeks ago, when the son-of-the-devil visited again. Three men swooped on me and threw me on the floor. I shouted and shouted but before help came, one of them had raped me and they all fled."
JA, a victim from Ogbozalla Opi community, said her eldest son could not bear the trauma and shame of his mother's rape and had died soon afterwards. "My son who lives in Abuja came home and took me back to the city for treatment and to avoid future occurrences since the community can no longer protect us but he died in his sleep .He just couldn’t come to terms with the cruelty being visited on his mother." As for married women, Under section 55 (10) of the Penal Code, corporal punishment of a married woman by her husband for the purpose of correcting her is legally justified and permissible!
Yet, the House of Representatives’ bill on “Violence Against Persons” (Prohibition) is seeking stiffer penalties for rapists .The 51-clause bill, which was sponsored by Abike Dabiri-Erewa, representing Ikorodu Federal Constituency in Lagos, has been adopted by lawmakers. Under the bill any man convicted of rape is liable to life imprisonment while gang rape will attract prison sentences of at least 20 years.
Unobe, a barrister, believes more should be done to protect minors. “Action regarding the rape of minors was given a stronger backing with the passing into law of the Child Right Act in 2002. This federal law cannot, however, be enforced in all states in the country until it is adopted by the states.
“In Nigeria, out of the 36 states, only 24 have adopted the Child Rights Law - all the states in the northern part of the country have refused to adopt it because the Penal Code which is operational in the North permits child marriage and betrothal of girls to elderly men.
When the law does not recognise defilement of a girl child, there is simply no legal backing to prosecute the offender!