There was drama at a Port Harcourt Senior
Magistrate Court when an illiterate rape victim, Ms Blessing (surname
withheld), decided she was no longer interested in the case against the
suspect, after reportedly being paid N10,000 (58USD). The intrigue occurred
after the 27 year old suspect, Mr. Chukwunonso Eze, was docked for allegedly
raping Blessing after threatening and forcing her into submission to his
immoral conduct while wielding a cutlass. Eze allegedly raped his victim
on July 5, 2012 at No. 9 Psychiatric Road, Rumuigbo, Port Harcourt, Rivers
state. Although the trial senior magistrate, Mrs. U.V. Erekosima, had earlier
told the accused person that she had no powers to hear the case against the
suspect, she however granted him bail in the sum of N100,000 following the
drama.
The
court allowed the bail on the ground of the application for withdrawal filed by
the complainant. In it, she had stated her lack of interest to continue with
the matter. The application, which was supported by a six-paragraph affidavit
and identified in the court by the complainant, showed that the parents of the
accused person had waded into the matter, and pleaded on behalf of their
son, an appealed to the complainant to forgive him.
A
copy of the application obtained by Nation Evening Express, which was signed by
the victim, read in part:“My decision to withdraw my case against the
accused is borne out of wide consultations and compromises between me and the
accused who has shown considerable remorse for his actions and as such I
believe that it is unnecessary to continue with this case.”The 3rd paragraph
continued: “In the circumstance, I crave the indulgence of your worship to
oblige my request and quash the said charges against the accused and strike of
the suit.” Although the magistrate expressed her handicap in quashing
and striking out the case after the victim had been made to publicly identify
the document as emanating from her, decided to send the case file to the
Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for legal advice.The case was subsequently
adjourned.
But
in our interaction with the victim, a service girl in a Bukka (local
restaurant), showed that she could neither read nor write and did not understand
the content of the withdrawal application that was purported to have emanated
from her. Nation Evening Express gathered that the orphan, who was always
sent out whenever the issue of the assault on her was being discussed, did not
know what the N30, 000 the accused family agreed to offer her was meant for. According
to our investigations, the victim was given N10, 000 out of the N30, 000 agreed
on her behalf, when the bail processes was almost completed.
It
was reliably gathered that the negotiator was a young employee (the
restaurant operator), who was equally noticed running about in the court with
the mother of the accused. The defense counsel had earlier urged the court to
quash and strike out the case on the ground that the victim had indicated her
desire not to proceed with the case in her application for withdrawal. The
prosecution led by Inspector Goodluck Adoe did not raise any objections to the
application of the lawyer, because of the new development. He, however,
appealed to the court to seriously caution the accused person to repent of his
ills and turn a new leaf.
THE NATION 17/07/2012
My View: It’s Unfortunate. Such incidents are the
dividends of Illiteracy and Poverty on a people.
Edna Wey
No comments:
Post a Comment