The Lagos State Government says it recorded no
fewer than 12, 120 rape cases in the last four years.
The government added that the names of 140 sex
offenders had been recorded in the Sex Offenders’ Register.
The Attorney-General and Commissioner for
Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye, spoke on Monday at Alausa, Ikeja, saying 3,083
offenders were asked to engage in community services as a form of punishment
between January 2014 and February 2015.
Ipaye explained that the measure was part of the
strategies to decongest the prisons.
He said, “I am pleased to inform you that the
non-custodian sentencing has continued to wax stronger in demonstration of the
fact that the criminal justice system does not need to incarcerate offenders in
order to be effective. With the community service option available to judges
and magistrates, convicted offenders do not need to be sent to prison for every
minor infraction of the law.”
The commissioner explained that in one year, out
of the 795 police investigation files sent to the Directorate of Public
Prosecutions’ office for legal advice, the unit had treated 716 files,
translating to 90.1 per cent, while the rest were still being processed.
He said, “During the same period, the DPP engaged
in the prosecution of 1,069 criminal cases. This figure includes the 786 cases
which are currently being prosecuted at the federal and the state high courts,
as well as 54 and 11 at the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court,
respectively.”
Ipaye said the state government had a Crime Data
Register, where records of crimes and the perpetrators were electronically
taken.
He explained that the initiative demonstrated
government’s commitment to use technology to combat crime.
He said, “CDR is an electronic repository of
information about suspects and offenders who pass through any of the prisons in
Lagos State.
“Currently, the CDR is a robust system in terms
of its IT infrastructure and functionality. We now have 62,789 unique records
in the system, of which about 40,000 have biometric and fingerprint details.”
Ipaye added that the Office of the Public
Defender, the agency saddled with the responsibility of providing legal aid
services to indigent citizens, had handled over 15,000 issues at no cost.
The Director, OPD, Mrs Omotola Rotimi, said the
agency in the last one-year recorded 526 rape cases, with 227 still pending in
court.
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