Lagos reports 4,860 domestic violence, rape, sexual assault in 10 months

Lagos State government, on Wednesday, said a total of 4,860 cases of domestic violence, rape, sexual assaults and others have been reported in the state in the last 10 months.

The Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN), made this known at a news conference which took place at Alausa, Ikeja, to commemorate the Domestic and Sexual Violence Awareness Month, September 2022 themed: “It’s On Us.”

Onigbanjo said between the period September 1, 2021, and July 31, 2022, there were 2,029 domestic violence cases, 65 rape cases, 40 sexual assault cases, 10 attempts to commit rape, five sexual assaults by penetration, 73 threat to life and 488 others, such as separation, neglect, among others.

Others, according to him, included 113 child abuse/physical assault, 194 defilement cases, 15 defilement/molestation by minor to minor, 105 child labour, abduction, neglect and 145 sexual harassment/molestation cases.

Onigbanjo added that a total of 1,578 children had experienced emotional abuse, explaining that 55 per cent of these children had been taken through counselling programmes to ensure they were able to psychologically deal with the events they had witnessed without it having a permanent and negative impact on them.

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“We have also witnessed an increase in reporting of cases from other states; mostly from Ogun, Abia, Anambra and others respectively. In the past 11 months, a total of 394 cases occurred outside Lagos. Such cases are promptly referred to the relevant agencies in their respective states.

“The Office of the Public Defender, as well as the Lagos Public Interest Law Partnership (LPILP), has provided free legal representation to 110 survivors of Domestic Violence, ranging from Judicial Separation, Divorce, Maintenance, Custody of children and Settlement.

“All the survivors of sexual assault received medical attention from Comprehensive Primary Health Care Centres, General Hospitals and Sexual Assault Referral Centres like Mirabel Centre, Women at Risk International Foundation (WARIF) as well as Idera Centre,” he said.

The Attorney-General disclosed that the agency had provided services to nine persons with disabilities who were experiencing one form of gender-based violence or the other.

He further revealed that the youngest child that experienced sexual violence in the year under review was eight months, while the oldest clients that experienced domestic violence were a 75-year-old woman and an 89-year-old man.

Speaking on the awareness month for the year, he said the DSVRT had since 2015, commemorated it, which has traditionally been in the month of September, to coincide with the month the Team was established in 2014.

“This has further been institutionalized by virtue of Mr Governor giving assent to the Law establishing the Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency on the 20th of September, 2021. Various activities are usually earmarked to commemorate the Month.

“The theme of this year’s activities is “It’s On Us.” This is based on the compelling need to ensure that residents of Lagos realise that ending the menace of Sexual Gender-Based Violence is indeed a collective effort which requires the support and collaboration of all members of society,” he said.

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Lagos reports 4,860 domestic violence, rape, sexual assault in 10 months