The
crime of forcefully having sex with someone against his or her wishes is
getting rampant in The Gambia and it must not tolerated; it must be meted with
the ultimate force of the law.
The
Gambia has witnessed a series of rapes against women and children of late.
Recently older men have been arrested and charged with the rape of younger
girls, young enough to be their granddaughters.
But
what is even more shocking is the number of people allegedly rape by a
22-year-old man just within three weeks. This guy raped or attempted to rape at least 6 people within this
period.
It
is disturbing to note that there are people like him in our society who are
sick in their heads.
They
walk among us and pretend that they are normal when in fact they are not. They have gone ahead to allegedly commit
heinous acts of rape and sexual assault.
The
fight against this scourge in our communities be tightened and the police, even
though doing great, must buckle up.
Sexual
assault is one of the most under-reported crimes with as much as 60 per cent
still being left unreported.
What
happen to rapists when they are caught and prosecuted? According to research, about 60 per cent of
rapes or sexual assaults are not reported to the police. Those rapists of
course, never spend a day in jail according to a statistical average of the
past five years. Factoring in unreported rapes, only about 6 per cent of rapists
ever serve a day in jail.
Quick
facts about rape prosecution
1.If
a rape is reported, there is a 50.8% chance of arrest.
2.If
an arrest is made, there is an 80% chance of prosecution.
3.If
there is a prosecution, there is a 58% chance of conviction.
4.
If there is a felony conviction, there is a 69% chance the convict will spend
time in jail.
5.
So even in the 39% of attacks that are reported to the police, there is only a
16.3% of chance the rapist will end up in prison.
6.Factoring
in unreported cases, about 6% of the rapists will ever spend a day in jail.
This
does not mean the judiciary and child friendly organisations are not doing
their best to wipe out rape. Violence
against women and girls is endemic worldwide.
Female
genital mutilation, honour killing, child brides, trafficking, grooming, rape
and domestic violence are rampant in societies in which women are classed as
second-class citizens.
While
The Gambia may not experience the most extreme of these practices, our record
of protecting victims of sexual violence is still abysmal, and something must
be done, starting with now with this alleged serial rapist, who is not even one
of our own.
“Rape
is one of the most terrible crimes on earth and it happens every few minutes.
The problem with groups who deal with rape is that they try to educate women
about how to defend themselves. What really needs to be done is teaching men
not to rape. Go to the source and start there.”
Kurt
Cobain