Rape: The Position of the the Law; by Favour Osayuwamen

 Rape: The Position of The Law

I'm Favour Osayuwamen, a final year law student of the University of Benin and the Attorney General of the great Uniben Campus Villa Community.

Under the Nigerian Legal system, there are three major legislations (laws) that specifically defines the offence of rape and provides for punishment.

I would mention these legislations in the order in which they came into force in Nigeria.

Firstly is the Criminal Code.

Section 357 of the Criminal code provides thus:

Any person who has unlawful carnal knowledge of a woman or girl without her consent, or with her consent, if the consent is obtained by force or by means of threats or intimidation of any kind or by fear of harm or by means of false and fraudulent representation as to the nature of the act or in the case of a married woman, by impersonating her husband, is guilty of an offence which is called RAPE.

From this

1) rape is unlawful carnal knowledge

2) it is a majorly without consent

3) consent, if gotten is void, if it is gotten by force or threat or impersonation

 Carnal knowledge is defined by section 6 of the Criminal code states that carnal knowledge, when use for an offence means that the offence is complete upon penetration.

That's for Criminal code and it is applicable in the southern part of Nigeria.

Southern part of Nigeria means states where Sharia law is not operative.

The Penal Code is what governs the northern part of Nigeria and it provides thus:

A man is said to commit rape who has sexual intercourse with a woman in any of the following circumstances:

1) against her will

2) with her consent obtained by putting her in fear of hurt or death

Under both codes, the punishment is life imprisonment.

These codes have however been proven inadequate I'm defining rape because rape is beyond penile penetration of the vagina.

There have been arguments  especially to the effect that if an object is used to penetrate a woman's vagina, it should be treated as rape. If she's forced to be involved in oral sex, it is rape. If is anal sex, without her consent is rape.

Many have also argued that men are also forced to involve in oral and anal sex against their will and that this should be rape.

This arguments gave birth to the *VIOLENCE AGAINST PERSONS (PROHIBITION) ACT OF 2015*

This act is popularly known as the VAPP act

So please, where I use VAPP, I mean this act.

Section 1 of VAPP provides that, a person commits the offence of rape is he or she intentionally penetrates the vagina, anus or mouth of another person with any other part of his/her body or anything else without the person's consent or with consent obtained by force or threat or intimidation or impersonation.

The VAPP act also carries the punishment of life imprisonment.

Now,this act has not been domesticated by all the states in Nigeria

Meaning that it is not enforceable in all the states in Nigeria

Sadly, only 13 states have domesticated the VAPP and they are:

Oyo, Osun, Lagos, Ogun, Ekiti, Edo, Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi, Benue, Cross River, Kaduna, Plateau

Plus the FCT

So any state where the VAPP has not been domesticated is either governed by the Criminal Code or the Penal Code depending on the part Of Nigeria it is.

Like all crimes, there must be the actus reus and the mens rea present for the offence of rape to hold.

Actus reus is criminal action

Mens rea is criminal intent

There is however nothing like Rape by mistake

In simple terms, rape, from all the laws looked at, is sexually penetrating another person without their consent.

It is not a feeling.

Rape is seen as evil and heinous because it robs the victim of his/her dignity to person, provided by the Constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria and right to choice provided for by the creator and nature.

Yes, people. Rape is not a feeling. It is an act. It's either you were raped or not.

"I felt raped" does not hold water before the court of law.

 Like all crimes, rape must be proved beyond reasonable doubt.

In times past, it was thought that there must be signs of violence. That is, the victim must show signs that they struggled.

Now, what's most important to prove is that the act was carried out without your consent and there was penetration.

If you feel that you've been raped, you must have evidence.

Oral testimony, medical evidence and documentary testimony are examples of evidence that could be tendered to the court.

Oral testimony, that is word of mouth. 

Documentary testimony, that is written testimony, like chats where the rapist admitted to the offence, etc

For medical evidence, it is important that you get checked if you've just been raped.

Most importantly, for women, you should see a doctor to prevent STDs and Pregnancy arising from rape.

It is not important that the rapist ejaculated.

There need not be semen.

Everyone can be punished for the offence of rape. Age just determines the punishment.

So a rapist that is below 14 years is liable to a maximum of 14 years while a person that is 14 years and above is liable to life imprisonment.