Benue women seek stiffer punishment for rapist slammed 6 years in jail

A coalition of women groups in Benue State has urged the Benue State Government to appeal the six-year jail term slammed on a 36-year-old rapist 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 was only a pat on the shoulder, stressing that the convict deserved much more to serve as a deterrent to others.

Lucia Torjir of the Gender-Based Violence Against Women and Children and Cluster and Focal Person to the 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.

The convict, Denen Agena, who is a married man, was on October 30, handed the jail term by a Benue State High Court sitting in Makurdi for raping a 13-year-old girl and abandoning her in a pool of her blood in an uncompleted building in 2020.

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Torjir said, “We received with mixed feelings the incident that happened recently, first a feeling of joy that we were able to get justice against GBV, but on the other hand, we are not too happy about the judgment of the court.

“This is concerning the case of a minor who is a 13 years old child of a vulnerable mother whose daughter was violated and abandoned in a building in 2020.

“Our partner, Global Women 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 30th October, judgment was passed.

“We were really excited by 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 with a fine of N100,000.”

She, however, worried that the Penal Code was used to pass the judgement instead of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Law (VAPPL), noting that the latter stipulated life imprisonment.

She further said, “According to Socrates, the great philosopher, ‘Working at that to which he is naturally best suited.’ Going by this, a six-year jail term is not best suited as compared to life imprisonment the law stipulates in our own sense of judgment.

“Based on this, we have collectively come together and demand that the state government appeals this judgment so as to serve as a deterrent to others.”