10th November, 2015
Kazeem Ugbodaga
The Lagos State Government has revealed that it handled about 14,166 rape and domestic violence in the state in the last eight years.
This was disclosed by the Director of the Office of Public Defender, OPD, Mrs Omotola Rotimi at the 2015 Press Week organised by the Lagos State Governor’s Office Correspondents, LAGOCO.
She said the growing rate of the menace in the society is worrisome, adding that the OPD handled about 70 cases of child defilement this year alone as over 406 rape cases were reported between January and September this year.
According to Rotimi, the total of rape cases handled by OPD from January to September, 2015 is 406 while 1,143 of such cases were treated from 2007 till date, saying that the agency handled 138 cases of physical child abuse between January and September, 2015 while a total of 1,521 cases were also treated by OPD from 2007 till date.
She added that 2,469 children were taken to government custody due to sexual assault and other related issues while 813 of such children were handled this year alone.
Rotimi appealed to the media professionals to help reduce stigmatisation of the victims by hiding their identity, as the agency recorded 1,889 cases of sexual abuse since 2007, disclosing that 455 of the sexual assault cases were reported this year alone.
State Coordinator of Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team, DSVRT, Mrs Titilola Vivor-Adeniyi, said that most of the victims were forced to discontinue with the prosecution of the perpetrators.
Also, the Counseling Ambassadors Organisation (TCAO) on Monday canvassed stiffer penalties for sexual offenders, perpetrators of domestic violence and those who protect them from prosecution.
The body said that such cover ups by traditional rulers, neighbours and family members of victims were conspiracies that had encouraged perpetrators to continue in the crime.
President of TCAO, Iyabo Obasa said this during a sensitisation walk, as part of activities of the Press Week organised by LAGOCO said domestic violence, rape and defilement among other sexual harassments were criminal acts that must not go unreported and unpunished.
Obasa said despite several efforts to rid the state of such offences, the perpetrators are growing leaps and bounds because relations have continued to shield them from justice, at the detriment of the victims.