A coalition of women groups in Benue State have urged the Benue State government to appeal the six-year jail term slammed on a 36-year-old rapist urging for him to get a stiffer punishment.
The women at a press conference in Makurdi at the weekend argued that the six-year jail term handed the rapist was only a pat on the shoulder, stressing that the convict deserves much more to serve as a deterrent to others.
Lucia Torjir of Gender Based Violence Against Women and Children cluster and focal person to Apin Public Health Initiative who spoke on behalf of the women and other partners stressed the need for the state government to appeal the judgment given by the state high court.
It should be recalled that the convict, Denen Agena, a married man was on October 30 sentenced to a six years jail term by a Benue State High Court sitting in Makurdi for raping a 13-year-old girl (name withheld).
Agena, who has children was said to have raped the victim and abandoned her in a pool of blood at an uncompleted building in 2020.
Presiding Justice Ijoho, in his ruling delivered, had maintained that the penalty was to serve as a deterrence to others intending to commit a similar crime.
The convict’s ordeal began after Lawyers Alert (LA) in partnership with Global Women took up the case to seek justice for the victim.
However, the women who are working to end gender-based violence in the state said that they received mixed feelings with the judgment.
Torjir said, “We received with mixed feelings the incident that happened recently, first, feeling the joy that we were able to get justice against gender-based violence but on the other hand, we are not too happy about the judgment of the court.
“This is concerning a case of a minor who is a 13-year-old child of a vulnerable mother whose daughter was violated and abandoned in a building in 2020. Our partner, Global Women’s Rights and Child Initiative, worked with Lawyers Alert to get the perpetrator arrested in 2020.
“And in 2021, the case was filed in court and in 2023, specifically, on 30, October, judgment was passed. We were really excited to the fact that, unlike previous incidents where such cases were struck out on technicalities, we were able to get justice as the rapist was sentenced to six years imprisonment coupled with a fine of N100,000.00.”
She, however, worried that the penal code was used to pass the judgement instead of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) laws, adding that the law stipulates life imprisonment or lesser terms for perpetrators of gender-based violence found guilty with fine.
“According to Socrates, the great philosopher, Justice is working at that naturally best suited, going by this, six-year jail term was not best suited as compared to the life imprisonment term the law stipulated in our own sense of judgment.
“Based on this, we have collectively come together and demand that the state government appeal this judgment so as to serve as a deterrent to others,” Torjir posited.
