We Hold Your Brief
Dear Counsel, My niece who lives with me, has just been discharged from the hospital after three days of treatment of injuries she sustained, after repeated beatings from her boyfriend with whom she went to spend the weekend.
It was so bad that, the Police had to come and record her statement from her hospital bed. It was while listening to her, that I discovered that this had happened before and she had kept me in the dark.
However, my worry is the way the Police are handling the matter. I don’t know what the boyfriend told them, but they seem to have concluded that it’s a minor disagreement between lovers, and this is quite painful and annoying.
At the hospital, someone who had a similar experience told my wife that, the Lagos State Government has a new law against these kind of offences, yet the Police is pretending not to be aware of the seriousness of the offence. Please, advice. S.O., Agege, Lagos.
Dear S.O., Indeed, the Lagos State Government out of exigency, enacted the PROTECTION AGAINST DOMESTIC
VIOLENCE LAW (2007) which was passed into law on May 8, 2017.
This law prohibits all forms of Domestic violence, especially those perpetrated by partners or persons who cohabit. Its provides specifically for this in Sections 3,4 and 5. It also empowers the courts to make protective orders, to ensure the safety of the victim. Interestingly, this law contemplates domestic violence in all forms, including physical abuse, sexual abuse, starvation, emotional, verbal and psychological abuse; economic abuse and exploitation, intimidation, harassment amongst others.
Consequent upon this law, a Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT) was set up, to help actualise the objective of the Law.
The prevalence of these acts within our society cannot be overlooked, and Lagos records an average of 210 of such cases every month. This might actually be under-reported. The Team also provides professional Psycho Social Therapy for rape and domestic violence survivors respectively, as well as survivors of Intimate Partner Violence.
The Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT) has a number to alert and report to anonymously, when domestic violence occurs. They are: 112 or 0813-796-0048.