#victimsofrape

The Police Public Relation Officer of the FCT Command, DSP Anjuguri Manzah, has appealed to victims of rape to speak out and cooperate with police prosecutors to get justice. Manzah who made the called in Abuja on Thursday said such would help to weed the society of perpetrators of such crime. He was speaking on the sideline of the Forum for the Adoption of Framework on Police Media-Relationship and safety of Journalists in Abuja. He said prosecution of alleged rape case becomes a challenge when victims and their families do not come out or present themselves in the investigation and prosecution of the matter “Some of the family members who are principal witness would not want to come out; sometime they go behind and settled the issue without the knowledge of the police. “When we want to continue investigation, you discover that they will be giving us excuses like ‘the victim has travelled or the relations are not on ground’ giving us different excuses. “These excuses are not helping the police in their investigation and diligent prosecution of the case. “I want to call on victims of rape, their relatives or relations to speak out, give police information and not go back behind the police to settle the matter. “We need them to present themselves; it will go a long way to assist us in our investigation and prosecution but when they go behind and settled with the accused, they stall the case. “You cannot go to court without the victim to tell their part of the story,” Manzah said. Read the full article

The metaphorical rape of Mr. Smith provides an excellent example of what many victims of rape go through. The victims that come out are routinely battered and told that they are the ones that caused the rape to happen to them. Specifically many female victims go through this type of torment with family members, friends and society. You would think that a victim of a rape would be given more sympathy and comfort instead of being confronted by others saying its their own fault for getting rapped. Many individuals say that the victims of rape were “asking for it”. Examples of “asking for it” would be the clothes someone is wearing, the time of day they are outside, if they are alone and so on. With the robbery about Mr. Smith it provides another example of what victims of rape similarity go through when talking to others that blame the victim and not the rapist. I think this reading is an import example of what many rape victims go through when reporting the crime and the backlash that the victims receive when trying to get help.