Notwithstanding the stiff penalty, defilement of minors continues to be on the increase, threatening the social and moral foundation of the society. Elizabeth Eze asked stakeholders why minors are the target
Head teacher jailed for life for defiling two pupils
On October 9, 2024, the Lagos State Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court in Ikeja sentenced a headteacher, Benjamin Ogba, to life imprisonment for defiling two underaged girls, both seven years.
Justice Soladoye held that the prosecution proved the ingredients of defilement beyond doubt. She held that the convict was a serial paedophile.
“The defendant and his fellow defence witnesses were not truthful and credible in their testimonies.
“Their testimonies were a pack of lies, and fell asunder like a pack of cards.
“This serial paedophile, a headteacher, who is expected to teach his students morals, stooped so low and defiled the underage girls, what a shame!
“This irresponsible and randy teacher who teaches his students nonsense, should be locked away,” she held.
“The defendant, having been found guilty of the two counts bordering on defilement, is hereby sentenced to life imprisonment on each of the counts.
“The sentencing, will however, run concurrently and his name be registered in the sex offences register as maintained by Lagos State,” the judge ordered.
A three-year- old defilement case
On July 9, 2024, the Lagos State Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court in Ikeja convicted a school bus driver, Michael Mowete and sentenced him to life imprisonment for defiling a three-year-old child.
The convict was said to have committed the offence on September 27, 2019 on Okeho Street, Isolo and Lukmon Street, Ago-Okota. Justice Oshodi held that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt the charge of defilement against the school bus driver.
According to the judge, the prosecution gave evidence, holding that the survivor, despite her age, narrated to the court how the convict defiled her. The judge said the evidence of the survivor was corroborated with the mother’s and the medical examination evidence while the investigative police officer (IPO) gave circumstantial evidence in the case.
He said: “The mother of the survivor, in her evidence, said on September 27, 2019, the school bus driver dropped her daughter off and her daughter told her ‘mummy! mummy! Uncle Michael touched my bumbum and jumped on me.’
The mother said she thought it was just an ordinary touch until she wanted to bathe her daughter at night and she started shouting when water touched her private part.
“Despite the survivor’s age, she demonstrated to the court, repeated how the defendant defiled her and said in her evidence, ‘Uncle Michael touched my bumbum and he jumped on me’. Justice Oshodi held that medical examination revealed repeated blunt, forceful penetration of the vagina.
The defendant in his evidence said that he was alone with the prosecutrix on the day of the incident and this also corroborated the evidence of the mother that on September 27, 2019, the driver solely brought her child home at 6.00 p.m. as against the 3.00 p.m. which she usually returned home.
The judge dismissed the testimony of one of the defence witnesses who said the convict was always in the bus whenever they dropped off the survivor at her mother’s shop.
According to the judge, the amorous relationship between the defendant and the survivor’s mother was a lie.
The judge held that even if it was true, it did not negate the fact that the prosecution had established the charge of defilement against him.
32-year-old man defiling a 13-year- old girl
In May 17, 2021 at Thomas Animashaun Street, Aguda, Surulere, Lagos State, the said offence was committed.
A 32-year-old software engineer was sentenced to life imprisonment for having unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old neighbour’s daughter.
Chukwudi Anyanwu was arraigned on one-count charge dated October 4, 2024 over allegation of defilement. He was accused of defiling a 13-year- old on May 27, 2021 at Surulere area of Lagos State by penetrating her private with his organ.
Justice Oshodi held that the prosecution proved the charge of defilement against Chukwudi Anyanwu beyond reasonable doubt.
He also held that the survivor’s evidence was corroborated by the medical report and that of her guardian. He also held that the alibi and extortion which the convict relied on did not hold water.
“The evidence presented in court against the convict had shown that he took advantage of the vulnerable 13-year-old girl who was living in the same compound as him. The convict exploited his position of familiarity and authority to lure the survivor into his room on Children’s Day, May 27, 2021, and subjected her to the harrowing ordeal of sexual abuse.
“The convict’s action had undoubtedly inflicted deep psychological wounds that might take a lifetime to heal. You have shown a troubling lack of integrity and remorse throughout the proceedings, and when you were confronted by the victim’s guardian about the heinous act, you initially denied any wrongdoing.
“However, when the young brave survivor repeated the details of your abuse in your presence, you resorted to begging for forgiveness, claiming it was the work of the devil.
“This attempt to evade responsibility and downplay the severity of your action is reprehensible. This blatant disregard for the law and attempt to pervert the cause of justice is a serious aggravating factor that cannot be overlooked,”
The court, therefore, sentenced Anyanwu to the mandatory life sentence under section 137 of the criminal law of Lagos state.
Child abuse
Child abuse can be defined as violence against children or ill treatment of a child. These could include maltreatment or exploitation, harm or abuse, including commercial sexual exploitation, trafficking, child labour and harmful practices. Child abuse can happen anywhere and the perpetrators can also be anyone. It could be parents, siblings, teachers, school bus drivers or staff .
Child abuse is a larger problem in our country today and it gets on due to lack of knowledge, exposure to reality and underreporting.
According to the Sexual and Gender Based- Violence (SGBV) Lagos State report on cases on children and adults between September 2023-July 2024, the agency received a total of 6,456 cases. The cases reported involves various forms of violence such as domestic violence, rape, lack of parental care, threat or life sexual assaults by penetration, emotional abuse, child neglect/abandonment, child labour, sexual molestation and non-GBV cases perpetrated against adults and children.
The report breaks down cases by gender, marital status and age for example 90.4per cent of adults survivors were girls. The most common types of violence reported for adults are domestic violence (73 per cent) and rape (3.5 per cent), for children, emotional abuse (76.7per cent) and physical violence (5.4per cent) were most prevalent.
Statistics of survivors says,3552 reported cases of female adults, 373 for male adults, 1368 reported cases for female children while 1163 for male children. In this report, the age of children 0-4 age (441), 5-9 age (949), 10-14 age (763).
What’s the attraction?
The Executive Secretary of the legal State Sexual and Domestic Violence Agency, Mrs Titilola Viviour-Adeniyi said in their quest to understand and find out what goes on in the minds of sex convicts, in 2016, they conducted a survey in partnership with the then Nigeria Prison Service, now Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS). She said the agency was privileged to engage over 140 people that were currently serving jail terms. She said: “we are not trying to absorb pidophiles but if you are trying to address an issue, it is best to go through the root cause of it”
In their findings, it was quite remarkable as about 80.5 per cent of them said that they were also abused at a young age of about six years and unfortunately they were unable to access psychosocial support and counseling. Some said it was their nannies, neighbours, parents and they were brought up to believe that was normal.
Some said they were exposed to pornography at a very young age and that resulted to the “Abused Abuser trend”. She said children will want to experience things when they see things. That made them realise that perpetrators are victims themselves.
“We are all products of our socialisation and up bringing, what we have been exposed to, what have been normalised that’s what we give out and practise”
She also went ahead to say that based on their research, they have offending paedophile and non-offending paedophile and that they are people who are attracted to children.
The culture of impunity
The fact that people think they can do something and get away with it, if you know there are consequences, if you know the child is likely to speak, you will not be so bold to do that.
She said majority of the times when the agency engages children that are survivors, they say something like “the man said if I tell anybody, I will die, my mummy will die” You can threaten an adult to a certain stage and the adult will decide to face the consequences and address the issue.
‘‘Imagine 2-3-year-old children being threatened with death, there is a big chance that the child will continue to experience the violence. That is why you hear cases of a man defiling a child of two years.
How do minors preserve evidence ?
Mrs Viviour-Adeniyi noted that parents have a bigger role to play in preserving evidence because they are the first respondent. In the case of giving a child a bath, as they approach the private part area, children groove in pain, that’s when they should notice that something had happened. It is very rare that if something happens immediately a child will disclose it not after being threatened with death from the perpetrators. So typically it is when a child wants to pee or take a bath, that’s when we engage parents and community, we let them know that taking a bath is destroying evidence. So, we advise parents not to disturb anything, the panties and clothing can also serve as evidence. For instance, the clothing shouldn’t be put in a nylon but in an envelope because they need to breathe. Aside from preserving evidence the health of the child matters, we also advise parents to visit the nearest health facilities.
Roles parents need to play in protecting their children
“Children are like oranges. It is what you have put in them, that’s what you get when you squeeze out”
Mrs Viviour-Adeniyi advised that parents have a bigger role to play in protecting their children. I have heard parents say they have done everything and eventually it happened at school and church. It can’t be prevented but parents can reduce the chances and opportunities.
She said abuse in children occur because of opportunities, if you can reduce the opportunities you can prevent it. Parents need to be hands up in their parenting, parents try and identify the windows of opportunity from your staff/ workers, schools and churches etc.
“Over a year ago in a case we handled, the lady said her female nanny had introduced her four daughters to pornography and they have started to abuse themselves.”
She said as parents, we have to be dedicated and intentional in our parenting, conduct background checks checks on your staff, reach out to former employers. “
Ask questions when you want to register your child in a school, check if the school has a safeguarding and child protection policy, how they employ their staff and how well is the child’s protection policy. In church when you drop off your children in their Sunday school’s department, find out what’s the ratio of adults to children. Imagine putting 40 children in a class with only one adult, what’s the process of children using the rest room (toilet) there are the places perpetrators can take advantage of opportunity.
Children also have a role to play in their protection. You must inculcate these information in them as early as they group up (1,2,3 years) let them know that their private parts shouldn’t be touched and their ability to speak up.
What the society/ community needs to know
Amb. Latif Akimborode, the Executive Director of Community Women’s Right Foundation and also the deputy state coordinator child protection network Lagos State.
He said the purpose of this NGO is to let the community/ society know that cases of child abuse shouldn’t be kept within the community. “When you see something, you say something”
He said the problem we are having is that people tend to handle cases of child abuse as though is a family matter. For instance, when a case happens in Lagos here and the people involved decide to take it down to Abia state just to handle it within the community and family, he noted that if a case happen in Lagos State here it will be treated here in Lagos State.
“The entire society is also at fault. What I mean by that is the children at a young age are allowed to watch films that are not of their age, also a child who is not meant to use phone is given a phone, an iphone, android phone to use. Some parents don’t manage it where as they are supposed to check what they doing on their phones, finally on this the parent are also not friendly to their wards”.
The society and community should join hands together and fight against child abuse as they have an important role to play. The community and society should stop shielding perpetrators. The community are the closest to the grassroots. Cases of child abuse shouldn’t be taken up or regarded as a family issue.
Is the law punitive enough?
Lagos State is taking up the flag to fight against child abuse in our country, setting up agencies such as the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency that was set up September 2021 to help fight against child abuse, Other states are following suit.
According to section 135 of the criminal law of Lagos State, any person unlawfully and indecently deals with a child is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for seven years. Also section 137 of the criminal law of Lagos state, Any person who has unlawful sexual intercourse with a child is guilty of felony, and is liable to imprisonment for life, Section 139 of the criminal law of Lagos state, Any person having the custody, charge or care of a child who has attained the age of four years and allows that child to reside in or frequent a brothel, shall be liable to a fine of Ninety thousand Naria or imprisonment for six months or to both.
How can incidents of peadophile be curtailed
Professor Paul Ananaba )SAN) explained that the word ‘paedophile’
does not exist in the Nigerian law books nor do they recognize paedophile at least not by this name. The law however acknowledge the acts that constitute the term.
Prof. Ananaba however said the legislature provides for this offence under different headings: “sexual intercourse with a child” “unlawful carnal knowledge”, “rape”“defilement” “rape of a child”. “Differing in these statutes is the cap placed on the punishment with respect to age. For instance, where the child is under 13 years of age, the punishment prescribed is imprisonment not exceeding 14 years with an option of caning. Where above 13 years but under 16 years, it is merely a misdemeanor punished with imprisonment not exceeding 2 years with the option of caning.
HOW TO CURTAIL PEADOPHILE
Ananaba said as the case with most offences, there are more than one way to curtail. paedophile
*. Treatment: paedophile can be treated with both therapy and medications. These treatments can lower impulses and the risk of acting on them, but the pedophilic disease is typically lifelong. While treatment may help, many do not seek clinical help because of the risk of legal consequences due to mandatory reporting laws for licensed professionals, including therapists. Therapy includes: cognitive-behavioral therapy, empathy training, and reconditioning approaches. It is important to note that this is not applicable in Nigeria.
*. Statutory Punitive Measures: in Nigeria, our curtailing measure falls heavily on the punitive as opposed to the preventative. Section 137 Criminal Code of Lagos State provides that: Any person who has sexual intercourse with a child (under 18 years) commits a felony and is liable upon conviction to imprisonment for life. A more recent example is the 2020 amendment to the Kaduna State Penal Law per Section 258 which provides the penalty for the rape of a child below 14 years by a male be surgical castration and execution, and to be entered into the Sex Offenders List. If by a woman, then bilateral salpingectomy (removal of fallopian tubes) and death, also entry into the Sex Offenders List. Where the victim is above 14 years, then the penalty is to be surgical castration and life imprisonment. Corroboration of medical report is material.
IS THE LAW PUNITIVE ENOUGH?
Ananaba described this as a highly subjective question, as the punishments across various jurisdictions vary and include 14 years imprisonment, life imprisonment, surgical castration or bilateral salpingectomy and even death upon conviction.
He explained that in jurisdictions with milder punishments, there is a cry for harsher penalties and vice versa in some cases.
“Before one dwells on the degree of the penalty, it is vital to note the sad reality which is that there is a very low percentage of prosecution of sexual offences, adding that ones involving children are even less. Convictions on rape, defilement are few and far between.”
According to him, the issue of corroboration is one that has long plagued the prosecution of sexual offences.
“Corroboration is necessary by virtue of Section 218 of the Criminal Code Act, which provides that a person cannot be convicted for sexual offences upon the uncorroborated testimony of one witness.
“The requirement of corroboration provides a further deterrent of prosecution. Taking into account the predominantly secret/hidden nature of the act, corroboration of the testimony of a child is seen as an albatross impeding justice.
“On the issue of severe penalties such as the castration and bilateral salpingectomy, the National Human Rights Commission have levied complaints that these provisions flout the country’s Torture Act of 2017.”
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, there is evidence to show that it is the certainty of punishment, rather than its severity, that deters crime.
“Drawing from the latest available crime data from Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics, in 2017 there were 2,279 cases of rape and indecent assault reported to police – but no convictions”.
He lamented that most Northern states have refused to domesticate the Child Rights Act 2017 which is distilled from the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
He explained that by virtue of Article 34 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, State Parties undertake to protect the child from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse.
He however emphasized that Kaduna state is leading the North with regards to penalties for sexual offences against minors adding, “I encourage other states to join the fight.”
