The house of representatives is considering extending the
time limit for the prosecution of sexual offences against girls below 13 years
of age.
The bill, which has passed the first reading, is sponsored
by Bitrus Laori, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker representing
Demsa/Numan/Lamurde federal constituency of Adamawa state.
The bill proposes an amendment to sections 218 and 221 of
the Criminal Code Act.
Section 218 of the extant law stipulates that: “Any person
who has unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under the age of thirteen years is
guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for life, with or without
caning.
“Any person who attempts to have unlawful carnal knowledge
of a girl under the age of thirteen years is guilty of a felony and is liable
to imprisonment for fourteen years, with or without caning.
“A prosecution for either of the offences defined in this
section of this Code shall be begun within two months after the offence is
committed.
“A person cannot be convicted of either of the offences
defined in this section of this Code upon the uncorroborated testimony of one
witness.”
The bill seeks to amend the section by replacing the
paragraph: “A prosecution for any of the offences defined in this section shall
be commenced within two months after the offence is committed” with “A
prosecution for any of the offences defined in this section shall be commenced
within two years after the offence is committed”.
Laori said the two-month period stated in the law is
insufficient to gather the necessary facts needed to prosecute an offender and
is a “defence to free the offender of criminal responsibility even if it were
true that the accused actually committed the offence”.
“The two-month period of limitation within which an offender
of these offences has to be prosecuted provides a window of escape from
prosecution and punishment of such offenders after two months,” he said.
“Many times where these offences are committed, reporting of
the cases, arrest of the offender, investigation, collection and processing of
evidence as well as commencement of trial take longer time than two months.
“This is usually influenced by many factors including
threats, stigmatisation and absence of willing witnesses to testify for the
prosecution.
“The two-month period provided by the law is, without doubt,
too short to achieve this.
“The implication is that where the two-month period elapses,
the offender is in law free of all criminal responsibility in that regard while
the victim is denied justice and the effect of the offence on the victim
remains.
“The removal of this time limit would put perpetrators in
the know that there is no window of escape for them once they commit this
offence and would operate to a great extent in deterring them and others from
further committing the offences.”
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