TheNewsGuru

Tag: Rape

  • Daura Emir fires village head for alleged kidnapping, rape

    Daura Emir fires village head for alleged kidnapping, rape

    The Emir of Daura, Alhaji Umar Faruq Umar, has dethroned Iliya Mantau, the Village Head of Mantau, Yarmaulu ward, in the Baure Local Government Area of Katsina State, over his alleged involvement in the kidnapping and rape of a married woman.

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    The emir announced that Iliya Mantau ceases to be the village head of Mantau, effective from Monday, May 19, 2025, stating that, a new representative will soon be appointed to ensure leadership based on justice and integrity.

    The decision was announced on Monday following a series of complaints from residents of Yarmaulu, which led to a youth-led protest last week with protesters accusing the dethroned village head of playing a role in the abduction of a married woman, Zulaihatu, and her infant.

    The woman was allegedly raped after a N20 million ransom was paid.

    The incident also sparked public concern over the emirate’s delay in taking action for almost a year, despite the matter being in court.

    However, the Emir of Daura, Umar Faruq Umar, while announcing the removal of the village head, emphasised that the Daura Emirate would not tolerate any form of abuse against the citizens.

    He also said that the emirate remains transparent to all citizens who wish to file complaints or report injustices.

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    The emir, however, warned the general public against spreading unfounded rumours, encouraging them to continue abiding by the law and to channel their grievances through appropriate legal procedures.

    “If anyone feels wronged, even if it is my child who is responsible, people should come forward and present their complaint to the Emirate. This is an Emirate of the people.

    “This Emirate has previously removed a traditional leader it had appointed, and even Sarki Abdurrahman once ordered the imprisonment of his son over wrongdoing, and that’s why we will never condone the abuse of anyone,” he said.

    It was gathered that some concerned youths in Yarmaulu staged a protest last week, accusing the dethroned village head and several others of kidnapping a married woman, Zulaihatu and her baby.

  • Dani Alves rape conviction overturned

    Dani Alves rape conviction overturned

    Dani Alves has had his rape conviction overturned due to “contradictions” in the case against him.

    The former Barcelona and Brazil star was sentenced to four and a half years in prison in February 2024 after being found guilty of raping a woman at a Spanish nightclub in December 2022.

    However, the appeals division of Catalonia’s High Court of Justice upheld Alves’ appeal and acquitted him, citing “inconsistencies and contradictions” in the case against him.

    The Alves trial was the first high-profile case since Spain overhauled its laws in 2022 to make consent central to defining a sex crime, following widespread protests after a gang-rape case during the 2016 San Fermin bull-running festival in Pamplona.

  • Ekiti: 2 teachers jailed 22 years each for raping students

    Ekiti: 2 teachers jailed 22 years each for raping students

    The Ekiti High Court in Ado Ekiti, on Tuesday, sentenced two teachers to 22 years imprisonment each for offence of rape.

    The Prosecution, Mr Kunle-Shina Adeyemi told the court that the defendants, Gbenga Ajibola, 43, and Olaofe Ayodele, 52, were arraigned on March 2, 2022 on a three-count charge of rape and abuse of office.

    He said that the defendants sometimes in Nov, 2019 in Ado-Ekiti raped two female students, aged 17 years and 15 years respectively (names withheld).

    According to him, the offence contravened Section 31(2) of the Childs Right Law, Cap. C7, Laws of Ekiti State, 2012.

    In her testimony before the Court, one of the victims, said that one of the convicts, Ajibola was her Computer teacher, and always disturbed her while in class.

    “On this fateful day, he told me to be in mufti and gave me N200 to go and wait for him in front of a filling station along Bank Road.

    “He later came there alongside Mr Olaofe, but before they came, one of my classmates also met me there, she told me that Mr Olaofe asked her to wait there for him.

    “When they came, we all left for a hotel, around Oke-Ila area of Ado Ekiti. On getting there, we were taken to different rooms where Mr Ajibola had sexual intercourse with me.

    “After that day, he continued to disturb me, when I could no more bear it, I narrated what happened to my mother who later took the matter up,” she recounted.

    To prove his case, the prosecution counsel called four witnesses and tendered statements of the victims and defendants, medical reports, as well as report of the Panel of enquiry among others as exhibits.

    Also, Counsel to the defendants, Mr Lawrence Fasanmi called six witnesses to prove his case.

    In his judgement, Justice Adeniyi Familoni said, the defendants shared their minds and numb the voice of conscience as they took advantage of the victims with reckless abandonment.

    “They deserved severe sanction for their misdeeds to serve as a warning and deterrent to others who may want to follow their footsteps”.

    Justice Familoni therefore sentenced the defendants, Ajibola and  Olaofe to 20 years imprisonment each without an option of fine on count one and two years each on count two, without option of fine.

    The judge said that the sentences should run concurrently.

  • NAPTIP urges stiffer penalties for rape

    NAPTIP urges stiffer penalties for rape

    Hajiya Binta Bello, Director-General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), has called for stricter penalties for rape to serve as a deterrent.

    Bello made this demand during the close-out event of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Law implementation in Cross River on Monday, organised by Stand to End Rape.

    Represented by Mr Jacob Oba, Head of Operations, NAPTIP, Cross River Command, Bello emphasised that rape was a heinous crime against humanity.

    She advocated for collective efforts to eradicate it through timely reporting, assisting survivors, providing legal services, and awareness campaigns to reduce stigmatisation.

    Bello appealed for a united front against rape, reaffirming NAPTIP’s commitment to combating VAPP Act violators, including human traffickers.

    On her part, Dr Mercy Kwabe, Co-director of Stand to End Rape Initiative, acknowledged Nigeria’s progress in promoting equal rights through the VAPP Act.

    However, she highlighted the need for better public understanding of the law, particularly in local languages.

    Kwabe stressed the importance of amending the VAPP Act to incorporate harsher penalties for perpetrators, rather than repealing it.

    Similarly, Ms Ann Awa, Chairperson of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Cross River Chapter, echoed the need for full implementation of the VAPP Act across states.

    She suggested fine-tuning contentious sections rather than abolishing the law.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that in partnership with agencies like the National Orientation Agencies (NOA), Stand to End Rape Initiative conducted VAPP Act sensitisation in Ikot Awatim community, encouraging residents to report suspected cases.

  • 71-year-old man sentenced to jail for raping 10-year-old girl

    71-year-old man sentenced to jail for raping 10-year-old girl

    A 71 years old man, Sule Adeola, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Ekiti State High Court for raping a 10-year-old girl.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that the defendant was charged to court on a one-count charge bordering on rape.

    The charge read, “That Sule Adeola on June 2 2023 at the Federal Housing Estate in Ado Ekiti did rape a 10-year-old girl, contrary to Section 31(1) of the Child’s Right Law, Cap. C7, laws of Ekiti State, 2012.”

    According to reports, the victim was living with her grandmother when the Adeola, who was her grandmother’s neighbour, sexually assaulted her between 2021 and 2023, but she did not tell her grandmother initially because the Adeola had promised to kill her.

    The prosecutor, Julius Ajibare, called four witnesses to prove his case, after which he tendered the defendant’s statement and medical report as exhibits.

    The defendant spoke through his counsel, Adefolaju Ayobioloja, and called three witnesses.

    In the judgment on Wednesday, Justice Blessing Ajileye, said, “It is unfortunate and saddening that recorded cases of intimate person’s sexual assault, hit new high every day.

    “From the totality of evidence on record, I am more persuaded by the prosecution’s evidence that there was proof of penetration, there is no scintilla of evidence available in the contrary. In all, I found that the prosecution proved the most essential ingredient of rape i.e. penetration. The defendant penetrated the vagina of the victim and I so hold.”

    The judge pronounced, “The defendant, Sule Adeola, is found guilty of the offence of rape of a 10 years old girl as charged. He is accordingly sentenced to life imprisonment.”

  • Lagos Govt intervenes in alleged rape of ARM Pension employee

    Lagos Govt intervenes in alleged rape of ARM Pension employee

    The Lagos State Government had intervened in the matter involving a female employee of ARM Pension Managers (PFA) Ltd. who was allegedly raped by her colleague during an official party of the firm.

    The Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA), Mrs Cecilia Dada, made this known on Saturday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

    Dada said beyond detaining and prosecuting the accused executive director who was already in Police custody, WAPA was concerned about the emotional and psychological state of the victim.

    She said WAPA was already making efforts to get help for the victim who it was said had locked herself up and had refused to pick up calls to speak to anyone.

    She said the Lagos State Government got in touch with the company immediately it got wind of the rape allegation to help the rape survivor.

    The commissioner said that the company confirmed to WAPA that they got a psychologist to counsel the lady and also got a private investigator on the matter which was already with the police.

    The commissioner said her ministry was collaborating with the police to ensure justice for the victim, saying that Lagos State had zero tolerance for domestic and gender violence.

    “We have tried to get in touch with the woman but she has not answered anybody’s calls.

    “Though, the man is already in the Police custody.

    “So, I am sure that the Police will charge him to court once they are done with their investigations.

    “Our counsellors and our social workers have tried to get in touch with her. Although we were not able to get her but the company assured us that they have gotten a psychologist to counsel her,” the commissioner said.

    Dada assured that the state government would follow up on her and ensure that the victim received necessary help that would make her overcome the trauma.

    The rape victim had called for arrest of the accused executive director in a report to ARM Pensions Managers Ltd.

    She alleged that the director drove her to a hotel after an office party hosted by the firm and had sexual intercourse with her without her consent.

    She said the male colleague had spiked her drink before abducting her and having “penetrative sexual intercourse” with her at a popular hotel on Chevron Drive, Lagos.

    She said she only realised that she was in a hotel after waking up and noticed her private parts were sore and bruised and her clothes in a pile.

    “I lost total memory of every conversation and activity. My last memory of the night was 7:30 p.m. and my entire memory was wiped out which was unusual even for someone who might have drunk excessively which l didn’t.

    “The next thing I knew was that l woke up and realised I was in a room fully undressed. I looked around and realised it was a hotel.

    “I found my clothes in a pile along with my wig, phone and handbag.

    “I checked the time, it was around 3:00a.m. My private parts were sore, bruised and painful.

    “I have also formally reported this incident to the Head of HR, who is my boss, the Managing Director and another executive director,” she said.

    She requested the Lagos State Government to help take her case up fully and ensure that the predator who tried to ruin her life and other accomplices be prosecuted.

  • Police detain officer over alleged teenager’s rape

    Police detain officer over alleged teenager’s rape

    The Police Command in Lagos State said it had detained one of its officers who allegedly raped a 17-year-old girl at the Area H Command, Ogudu.

    The command’s spokesperson, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, who confirmed this on Saturday, however, denied report that the police authority was shielding the suspected rapist.

    Hundeyin explained that the officer in question, had allegedly absconded from work since the time of alleged incident, and only turned himself in on Saturday to face questioning.

    The image maker, who assured the public that the matter was not being swept under carpet, said that the Commissioner of Police in Lagos State, Mr Adegoke Fayoade, had ordered the Gender Unit of the command to immediately investigate the case.

    “The case is under full investigation. There is no plan to cover up the allegation,” he said.

    NAN had earlier reported that a 17-year-old girl (name withheld), reported a case of rape against a senior officer attached to Area H Command Ogudu, Ojota area, to her parents.

    It was learnt that the girl became a victim of alleged violent sexual assault while trying to recover her alleged stolen phone by some criminals.

    Investigation revealed that the said police officer, who got wind of the stolen phone, offered to help track the girl’s missing phone after taking her statement.

    It also learnt that the officer, simply identified as Owolabi, allegedly deceptfully tricked the teenager with false information that police operatives had arrested the suspected thief.

    “The officer then lured the girl with the false information. When she arrived his office, he allegedly raped the girl under gun point,” a source said.

  • Secondary student detained for allegedly r3ping mad woman

    Secondary student detained for allegedly r3ping mad woman

    A secondary school student in Adamawa State has been remanded for allegedly r3ping a mad woman three times.

    The student, Idris Alex Emeka who attends Capital Government Day Secondary School, pleaded guilty at the Chief Magistrate Court 2 in Yola where he is arraigned on a charge of rape.

    Magistrate Musa Alhaji Adamu, the presiding judge of the court, remanded the 20-year-old defendant after he pleaded guilty to the offence.

    The prosecution had told the court that the student was caught in the sex romp with the mentally ill woman on the 26th of June 2024.

    In its First Information Report tendered in court, the prosecution alleged that the defendant had sexual intercourse with the mentally retarded woman on three occasions.

    The prosecuting officer, Inspector Galeon Nimrod, told the court that one Habu Jibrilla came to Karewa Police Station and reported the matter.

    Nimrod said Jibrilla, who is of the State Low-Cost Housing Estate in Jimeta, stated that he caught the defendant having sex with the mentally unhinged woman by the street side around 6:40am and decided to take hold of him and hand him over to the police.

  • Court sets free 200-level student standing trial for multiple rapes

    Court sets free 200-level student standing trial for multiple rapes

    The Children, Sexual and Gender-based Violence Court in Awka, has discharged and acquitted Michael Arinze, 20, accused of raping three young ladies in Awkuzu, Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra state.

    Arinze, a 200 level student of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam, was arraigned in July 2022, but pleaded not guilty to the eight-count charge of rape and armed robbery.

    The offences, the prosecution said, contravened Section 5 of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Law of Anambra State 2017 and Section 347 of the Criminal Code Cap 36 Vol. II Revise Laws of Anambra State of Nigeria 1991, as amended.

    The defendant, who has been in custody for 21 months, was alleged to have raped and robbed his victims, two aged 21 and the third, 22 years, of their handsets and money at gunpoint.

    The prosecution alleged that the offences were committed on April 5, July 8 and July 15, 2022, respectively.

    Delivering judgment,  Justice Peace Otti said that the evidence of the witnesses produced by the prosecution were inconsistent.

    Otti said further that prosecutory evidence was inconsistent with the defendant’s confessional statement.

    “No independent witness testified to corroborate the story of the prosecution, no medical doctor was called as a witness to confirm medical reports and no medical report was also tendered to prove prosecution’s case.

    “The Court in criminal cases does not dwell on speculations, but on credible, vital and relevant evidence.

    “The guilt of the defendant was not proved beyond reasonable doubt.

    “I find the defendant not guilty and the defendant is hereby discharged and acquitted,” she said.

  • SGBV: Activists seek stringent, stiffer penalties for rape offenders

    SGBV: Activists seek stringent, stiffer penalties for rape offenders

    … task Kano govt on justice for rape survivors

     

    Gender rights activists have called for stringent penalties against rape and sexual abuse towards women and girls in Nigeria.

     

    The call is coming on the heels of an investigative report by Premium Times which exposed that there is a spike in rape cases in Kano state, obstacles to justice for victims and the state’s failure to domesticate Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act.

     

    Child and gender rights advocate Lemmy Ughegbe led the call for strict action against rape during an anti-corruption radio programme, PUBLIC CONSCIENCE, produced by PRIMORG, on Wednesday, 24 April 2024, in Abuja.

     

    Ughegbe emphasized that Nigerian society and government at all levels need to take serious steps in protecting the rights of children, women, and girls from rape by ensuring perpetrators of sexual offences are severely punished.

     

    He noted that while getting justice for victims of rape remains a daunting task due to the shortcomings of the system, “stringent punishment for rape offences will go a very long way in deterring citizens from going into such unwholesome acts.

     

    Ughegbe disclosed that education and creation of awareness remain the biggest vaccine to fighting rape and sexual gender-based violence, adding that “if across the country (Nigeria) fifty percent of rape offenders are brought to book, people will be discouraged from involvement in such evil act.

     

    “There’s a lot of rhetoric about tackling gender-based violence where there are perpetrators. Even in the few reported cases, what steps do government and government agencies take to ensure that even the perpetrator is brought to justice? When a victim or a survivor manages to break the silence and speak out, what is done? Does she get justice?

     

    “More often than not, justice is elusive because most times the police, the community heads, different people will put pressure on the victim to either drop the matter or the Police will help to bungle the matter, in such a way that the survivor is re-traumatized.

     

    “We (Nigerians) need to purge ourselves of the evil of wanting to protect perpetrators of rape; do you know the dangers of victims not getting justice? And not being subjected to psychotherapy. You need a support system. Section 39 of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act talks about psychotherapy. But victims are left on their own to heal, and some of them don’t heal.

     

    “Rape is five minutes of pleasure for that sick perpetrator, but it is a lifetime of trauma for the victim, Ughegbe lamented.

     

    He knocked the Kano state government for lacking commitment to reduce the scourge of rape in the state while faulting the actions and inactions of some officers of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) that handle rape cases.

     

    On her part, recovery coach and therapeutic counsellor Dr. Ibadat Ranti Lawal insisted that Nigeria is not a lawless society; hence “federal and state governments must tackle rape scourge and ensure stricter consequence.” She urged the Kano state government to deal decisively with those indicted in several reported cases of rape in the state.

     

    Lawal also prescribed life sentences for rapists, stressing that “the system must make people scapegoats to reduce the incidence of sexual gender-based violence.”

     

    She called on the government to set up counselling centers in public hospitals across the country to help survivors of rape while encouraging rape victims to “speak up and break the culture of silence.”

     

    “A lot of the victims have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. And if care is not taken, it progresses to the extent they want to take their lives. But when they get attention or support from their family and professional bodies, they can live an everyday life.

     

    “That is why we’re advocating for the government to please in most of our hospitals to have sections for counselling where the victims, the survivors, they can be able to go and seek help, either by the family taking them or from the law enforcement agency or even from the referral centers,” Lawal stated.

     

    Earlier, investigative journalist Mariya Shuaibu Suleiman called on the Kano state government to take action on the Premium Times investigation exposing the spike in rape cases in the state.

     

    She revealed that a lot of young women have been victims of rape in many reported cases in Kano state but have unfortunately been unable to get justice.

    Suleiman said the Police in Kano were yet to take action against people indicted by the report, adding that the state government was aware of the extent of sexual gender-based violence in the state.

     

    Public Conscience is a syndicated weekly anti-corruption radio program PRIMORG uses to draw government and citizens’ attention to corruption and integrity issues in Nigeria.

    The program has the support of the MacArthur Foundation.