Yola, Aug. 13, 2023 .
Adamawa Ministry of Justice has secured one conviction out of four rape cases between January and Aug. 10, the Senior State Counsel, Adamu Abubakar, said.
Abubakar, who is also the Police Liaison Officer and in-charge, sexual offences database in the state, disclosed this in an interview with Naija247News in Yola.
He said that the three other cases are still ongoing in court.
According to him, the chamber of the attorney-general only received and prosecute cases of rape and defilement.
He added that “from January till date, we received few cases from the police. So far, we received four cases, one of which secured conviction.”
He said the establishment of the DNA Forensic Laboratory by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) in Yola would help investigators and prosecutors in collection and presentation of evidence, especially on sexual matters.
The senior state counsel, therefore, advised the public to take it as a matter of responsibility to report any case of sexual nature to the police.
He also advised that such cases could also be reported to the Hope Centre, where victims could receive prompt first aid immediately the incident happened, especially rape cases.
He said that “before now, we received a lot of cases on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV), but due to lack of forensic evidence in some cases, we lost them.
“In most cases, the challenge we have is the lack of evidence and to some extent, lack of cooperation from families.” (www.naija247news.com)
