UNLAWFUL PLEASURE(?)

Guilty or not guilty?
RAPE:
Rape is the Act of forcefully having carnal knowledge of a person. Section 357 of the Criminal Code Act provides inter alia;
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 or harm, or by means of fraudulent representation as to the nature of the act, or in the case of a married woman, by personating her husband, is guilty of an offence called rape.
From the above provision, one may not be wrong to say that under the Nigerian law, a woman cannot be said to have raped a man. Why is that so? It appears to me that there is a lacuna in law here. There have been proven to be exceptionally strong women who abuse little boys and a school of thought argues that there cannot be forced erection, it stands to reason but medically, it has been proved that a forceful erection can take place, not because the person is enjoying the act but because the mind is scared of what will happen to it if it doesn’t obey so it forcefully has an erection. For the purpose of this article, we shall state the law as it is and not as it ought to be.
Section 358 of the Criminal Code Act provides that any person that commits the offence of rape is liable to life imprisonment with or without caning. Section 359 further provides that the punishment for attempted rape is fourteen years with or without caning.
STANDARD OF PROOF
Section 141 of the Evidence Act places the burden of proof on the prosecution to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the alleged act actually took place; which in the case of rape, there has to be proof of penetration. This is so because the law in Section 36(5) of the 1999 Constitution presumes an accused person innocent until proven guilty; more so, we cannot rule out the fact that some people have been falsely accused of offences they did not commit even though the chances are one in a hundred. So, the question is how? How does a young girl who is so shy and afraid of social stigma come out in open court to say “that guy over there raped me”? How easy is it for a young lady to stand and watch her whole sexual life be opened by opposing counsel during cross examination?
Facts: it is not enough to just come out and say “that man over there raped me” or to call a witness to say, “I heard her scream and he wouldn’t open the door”….. so he raped her. The prosecution is also saddled with the responsibility to produce facts, evidence to prove that there was a rape, the prosecution in proving their case have to tender medical reports suggesting a forceful penetration and may be some sperm residue from the girl’s body, else, it wouldn’t be rape.
The prosecution also has to prove that there was no consent because if the accused says for instance “she is my girl friend and we have been having sex for months now” it will be very difficult for the girl to prove rape unless she can distinguish that particular act from all others, may be bruises, cuts, torn dresses and undies, neighbors willing to testify and medical report to prove it. The rigors of a rape trial are usually too much such that at times, the accuser becomes the accused. Nobody wants to take the stand and hear her sexual history been read to the world, because it will make her look like the evil one, most times, the psychological and emotional trauma is such that it is usually easier to keep quiet or sue for attempted rape than rape itself because the evidence is hardly conclusive. To get a medical report from the hospital as a civilized and educated person with all your money and exposure might even take a while as at times, you might spend the whole day waiting to see a doctor or getting a police report before the doctor can attend to you and that is assuming you have composed yourself well enough to remember that you need to run some tests, let alone a timid girl in a village who does not know who to report to, she just shies away and never says anything about it not because she doesn’t know it is bad but because she is used to a world of pain, does not know who to report to and even if she does, nobody will believe her and worst case scenario, she isn’t even aware of the dangers involved until some months later she finds out she is pregnant, how on earth does she even start to prove that it was a rape in the first place?
Another part of the proof is when you go to the police to report the crime, the stress the victim is been put through might even be worse than the rape itself with the alarming rate of corruption in the society. It has even been reported that some of the victims are asked to provide money for the investigation and in some cases; the accused is left to walk because the investigating police officer refused to do his job well and the innocent victim is left to wallow in fear and shame.

The way out:
Girls should avoid walking alone in dangerous, quiet, lonely places and reduce provocative dresses and acts because it has been proved that most rapes are committed by people close to the victims.
People should be encouraged to report crimes rather than die in silence.
Rape victims should be given free counseling and even rehabilitation and a chance to lead a normal life.
There should be a review on the law of rape and the penalty for rape should be increased to make it deterrent enough.
Also there should be a type or rehabilitation course or system for convicted rapists and pedophiles to ensure they don’t go back into the same act, just throwing them into jail alone won’t do much as they might even come out to become serial killers.
Awareness should be created and people should be encouraged to report heinous acts such as rape and pedophilia.
The medical system should be adjusted such that rape victims should be given attention just like emergency cases and thorough examination and report should be made.
The police should keep up with the good work but try and investigate cases properly.
The police should assign serious offences like rape and pedophilia to qualified lawyers to ensure proper prosecution of the cases.
The society should co operate with rape victims and should be willing to testify the truth and give them a chance to live normal lives.

Conclusively therefore, all hands must be on deck to fight this ugly menace of rape to make the world a safer place for our future mothers and future generations.