OFFENCES OF RAPE AND FEMALE CIRCUMCISION OR GENITAL MUTILATION- THE EBONYI STATE VIOLENCE AGAINST PERSONS (PROHIBITION) LAW ON TRIAL

Abstract

Female circumcision or genital mutilation has been criminalized in Ebonyi State Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Law; which Law re-defined rape. These provisions are meant to punish the violation of the dignity of the girl-child and women. As Nigeria’s-judicial system is adversarial in nature, these offences can only be established if the ingredients, as set out in the Law are established. This paper ventures into the ingredients of these offences that must be established; and discovers that while female circumcision was narrowly defined; genital mutilation was undefined; and the concept of rape expanded beyond what the offence is known to be; albeit with some doubts as to the all-inclusiveness of the definition of the expanded definition of rape. This paper recommends a liberal definition of the three concepts and concludes that without that; some convictions that would have been secured would not be secured.