RAPE: Who are the real victims?

Rape is defined as the act of having sex with somebody against his/her will. In Sierra Leone, and I suppose the world over, legislations make it criminal for someone to forcefully have sex with another person. Rape convicts could serve a custodian sentence of at least seven years.

Irrespective of the fact that rape is criminal, the act is regularly being recorded in Sierra Leone. And the indication that it might continue unabated for a long time is a serious cause for alarm.

Babies, teenagers, adults and elderly people are raping and being raped with impunity as if there are no laws criminalizing the act. If today a teenage boy is not raping an elderly woman, tomorrow a sixty years old man would rape a three year old baby or even younger. Could this rape menace that continues to hunt people of all ages unabated means that the laws are not strong enough to punish rape victims?

In as much as I partially agree that the laws are not strong enough to punish rapists, I also strongly hold the view that there is more to do to stop rape other than just making laws to punish ‘perpetrators’. To back the argument that punishable laws for ‘perpetrators’ are not enough to tackle the menace called rape, we have as many multiple rape ‘perpetrators’ in Sierra Leone as you can count. This means that people have been tried, convicted, sentenced, served their jail terms, come out of prison and rape again. You see why the current regulations are not enough to eradicate or minimize rape?

If the government and other stakeholders are very serious about fighting rape, it’s high time they started looking at the causes of rape, rather than just concentrating on punishing people they think are the perpetrators. The time to identify the real rape victims and punish them is now. It’s time to carefully study the definition of rape, or even redefine it, and put in place legislations to punish the real perpetrators.

It might interest people to learn that most of the people being convicted and jailed for rape are actually the victims of rape. The real perpetrators are walking the streets of Freetown committing more offences while the victims are suffering behind bars.

What I am trying to say in essence is the fact that some women are the perpetrators of rape, but are allowed to go scot-free. There has never been an instance wherein a woman has been convicted for rape in Sierra Leone, I stand to be corrected.

Let me, at this juncture; substantiate the argument that some women are the real rape perpetrators. Some women are using the act of seduction to ‘force’ men into sex. And seduction happens to be a very powerful tool to subdue a man into doing things against his will. Notwithstanding the fact that men are supposed to be strong and upright, it is unfair to give a blanket condemnation to a man who succumbs to the act of seduction and do something stupid or regrettable.

It is an open secret that a huge percentage of young girls and women in modern day Sierra Leone have inculcated the bad dress code of parading the streets half naked. If their dresses are not exposing their breast or legs, then their buttocks would be displayed for public view. Is the aforementioned not a major cause of rape? It definitely is! We will not expect all the men to be strong enough to resist such temptations. It is but natural that certain men cannot stand such enticement. This explains why the aforementioned accounts for a huge percentage of rape cases in the country.

This argument is in no way trying to justify the act of rape. It is only trying to spell out the fact that it is high time women are punished for forcing men to rape them. If a woman with a record of being claded in ‘hijab’ or other acceptable forms of dressing is raped, the perpetrator actually deserves a life imprisonment sentence. But it is very unfair to convict and sentence a man because he rapes a woman dressed half naked with breasts, legs and buttocks totally exposed. In other words, it makes a lot of sense and justifies justice if a woman that is raped is convicted and sentenced because of her history of roaming the streets or communities naked. The need for legislations on dress code for especially Sierra Leonean teenagers cannot be overemphasized. 

The country needs laws that criminalize the exposure of breasts, waists, and legs. In fact, decent dress is part of the dictates of our culture; so why not induce that into the laws? Rape would be drastically reduced if this is done.

On another note, it is very sad that our law makers never made an attempt to classify rape into various categories. The same law that governs the act of a teenage boy raping a teenage girl is the same law that punishes an old man who rapes a three year old girl. It is very unfair to charge and convict an old man that rapes a child for rape. Forcefully having sex with an underage girl or child is definitely not an act of rape but attempted murder.

The appropriate authorities need to seriously look into this issue of rape and right the wrongs.

With Abdul Fonti