The TAMAR Sexual Assault Referral Centre, Enugu, on Wednesday revealed that it has received reports of 472 separate cases of sexual assault in Enugu State since 2014.

The centre was set up in 2014 by Women’s Aid Collective, a non-governmental organisation, in partnership with the Enugu State Government, to provide confidential, medical, counselling and other support services to victims/survivors of sexual violence.

Addressing journalists in Enugu, the Executive Director, WACOL, Mrs Joy Ezeilo, however noted that there might be more than 472 cases of sexual assault in the state since the centre took off two years ago.
According to Ezeilo, there were other sexual assault cases in the state, excluding the concerned 472 incidents, that were not reported to the referral centre within the period.

Four hundred and twenty one, out of the 472 cases reported at the centre involved rape/defilement, according to Ezeilo.
Also, there were 14 cases of attempted rape, while 37 incidents involved domestic violence-related forms of sexual assault.

A breakdown of figures released by the centre revealed that 42 cases involved infants below five years, 86 incidents affected children between six and 10 years while those from 11 to 13 years were victims in 73 of the reported cases.

In the same vein, teenagers between 14 and 17 years were victims of sexual assault in 81 cases, 86 incidents involved those between 18 and 22 years, while 73 other cases concerned victims between 23 and 29 years.
Adults of 30 years and above were victims in 31 reported cases.

Ezeilo further disclosed that available records revealed that 89 victims were gang raped.
Interestingly, she added that seven victims were not able to remember the number of persons that raped them.

The records further revealed that, in most of the cases, the perpetrators are known to their victims.
“It was discovered that most of the perpetrators are known to the victims
“Our record shows that out of the 472 cases reported, 354 persons knew their perpetrators while 118 persons do not know them.

“Of the 354 perpetrators known, 52 are family members while 302 are not family members,” she said.
However, out of the total of 472 cases of sexual assault recorded by the centre, only 37 were charged to court.
Out of the 37 cases that went to court, five were discharged, seven are at prosecution stage while conviction was recorded in one case, with the perpetrator sentenced to 14 years in prison. Twenty-four other cases are awaiting trial, according to Ezeilo.

Also, the centre recorded 15 pregnancies as a result of the 472 sexual assault incidents, as well as two cases of HIV infection.
Ezeilo explained that the HIV infections arose because the concerned victims failed to access Post Exposure Prophylaxis.
She added that 90 per cent of the victims were tested for sexually transmitted infections, and those that were infected received treatment.

Expressing displeasure over the challenges encountered in prosecuting rape complaints, Ezeilo noted that cases involving minors are referred to the Social Welfare Department, which lacked the funds to effectively prosecute cases.
She added that, in most cases, victims and their family members are reluctant to take rape complaints to court.
“Willingness to settle out of court does not deter rapists,” Ezeilo stressed.

A program officer with Justice For All, which is also involved in the sexual assault referral centre, Mrs Josephine Onah, spoke of the “need to break the culture of silence” on rape, in order to eradicate the menace.

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