Child defilement, Rape and related vices are henceforth non-bailable offences in Akwa Ibom State. Defendants will be remanded until trial is concluded while sentencing is without an option of fine.
The Commissioner for Agriculture and Women Affairs, Dr. Glory Edet, made this disclosure during a workshop on gender-based violence, GBV, mitigation for the police and relevant non-governmental organizations in Uyo.
According to Mrs. Edet, over 35 per cent of women world over, according to United Nations statistics, had experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, noting: “GBV undermines not only the safety and dignity of womanhood, but also to a large extent, disdains their overall well-being.”
Edet added: “Anybody that rapes a child will have nothing like bail, be it a father raping his own child and so on. We must make sure that we work together to prosecute that person.”
The commissioner explained that the workshop was a wake up call to the participants to live up to their responsibilities in curbing the menace.
She frowned on the alarming rate of GBV, saying her ministry had in the last one year attended to over 452 cases and secured 16 convictions.
