13th August, 2023
By Ibrahim Kado
Adamawa Ministry of Justice has revealed that the state was only able to secure one conviction out of four rape cases reported between January and Aug. 10.
The Senior State Counsel, Adamu Abubakar, who is also the Police Liaison Officer in charge of the sexual offences database in the state, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yola.
He said that the three other cases are still ongoing in court.
According to him, the chamber of the Attorney-General only received and prosecute cases of rape and defilement.
He added that “from January till date, we received few cases from the police. So far, we received four cases out of which we secured a conviction.”
He said the establishment of the DNA Forensic Laboratory by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) in Yola would help investigators and prosecutors in the collection and presentation of evidence, especially on sexual matters.
The senior state counsel, therefore, advised the public to take it as a matter of responsibility to report any case of sexual nature to the police.
He also advised that such cases could also be reported to the Hope Centre, where victims could receive prompt first aid immediately the incident happened, especially rape cases.
“Before now, we received a lot of cases of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV), but due to lack of forensic evidence in some cases, we lost them.
“In most cases, the challenge we have is the lack of evidence and to some extent, lack of cooperation from families,” he added.