FIDA advocates life imprisonment for child rapist

The International Federation of Women Lawyers has called on government to prescribe life imprisonment for child rapists.

The Chairperson of the association, Mrs Ngozi Ikenga, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Tuesday.

She said rapists should be jailed for life for violating the rights of children.

According to her, a stiffer penalty for perpetrators of child rape would serve as a deterrent.

“The person remains there, rots there and knows what it is to be a criminal and to carry out such violence against a fellow human being,” Ikenga said.

Ikenga said child victims of such dastardly acts live with the trauma for life.

“For older people, they hate men while for the younger children, health wise, it destroys them; some of them may never be able to have children,’’ she said.

Ikenga urged parents not to cover up rape when it happens to their children and appealed to members of the society to show more understanding to the plight of rape victims.

NAN