HEY GUYS, HEAR ME OUT PLEASE, I NEED HELP.

Over the years, there have been conscious discussions about sexual offences on Twitter and other social media platforms. A hashtag trends and that is it. No follow ups, we just move on. I am tired and I no longer want to just retweet.

It is true that there are few convictions on Sexual Assault. I checked in April 2019 and indeed, there are less than 100 reported convictions on sexual assault. While the HC usually convict, at the Court of Appeal (CA), some of the judgments were upturned.

Specifically, I identified 16 CA judgments, upholding the conviction of rapists, 15 Supreme Court(SC) affirmation of convictions, 11 CA Judgments upturning the HC judgments and 6 SC Judgments upturning the decisions at the HC & CA & discharging the accused. Please do the maths.

In a country where people are raped & sexually assaulted every day, these're laughable numbers & could be better.

Why would an appeal court even upturn the decision of a High Court convicting a rapist?

Simple, by Nigerian law, you are innocent until you are proven guilty.

You are entitled to be defended by a lawyer and the onus is on the prosecution to prove that a person was raped and the accused did it. So, it is not even a case of whether someone was raped, but whether you can prove it.

Because rape is a private crime, it is hard to prove and more often than not, it is your word against the accused. The courts will not convict based on speculations or sentiments, but on proven facts, thus, if you cannot prove the ingredients of rape, there would be no conviction

The courts have had to upturn rape convictions solely because there were no proofs. You cannot say a child below 14 was raped and that evidence is not corroborated by material evidence such as a doctor’s report, or the child’s story is contradictory.

At the end of the day, the hands of the courts are tied and they have to give judgment based on the law.

Beyond the above, a major problem identified is the unwillingness of Investigative Police Officers to investigate. We know how they are.

Cases have failed because cases are being prosecuted by the state and they make a lot of mistakes. A person has been discharged, simply because the charge was not read to the accused. Fundamental errors.

Rape and attempted rape is harder to prove, especially when it has to do with a child, because of the need for corroboration. In addition to the above, I was triggered by the #JusticeForUwa trend and I can't be helpless anymore.

There is a need to help genuine victims of these offences get justice. Organisations are taking action, one more organization will not bite. I don’t have it all figured out but I know something needs to be done and this is the step I am taking.

So this is it:

If you are a practicing lawyer and tired like me, have an understanding of sexual rights and sexual offences, if you are free and willing to take on cases for victims of sexual offences, I NEED YOU. It is not a money making venture, so please think about it.

You'll be stressed, you'll be called on, you may not make money, but your passion to help victims get justice'll make the difference. I'm looking at a bigger picture where more convictions'ld be obtained, we'ld take sexual rights education to the grass roots, schools & churches.

I understand that the state prosecutes… I also know that the DPP can give a private prosecutor a fiat to take on cases. We shall be looking at obtaining these fiats. If we can’t, we would watch Briefs and be sure the state is prosecuting right. We would partner with organsations

There's a lot but we can consume all that when the group is set up. Please RT and send a DM. Suggest anyone too. Let us make a difference.

I've taken a further step, to create a Twitter account @Beyond_Hashtags.
We're looking at Justice Beyond Hashtags. Please follow, reach out.