Mirabel News Oct. 2013: Selected Section of The Amended Criminal Law on Rape

Section 258(1) – punishment for rape is life imprisonment

Section 258(2)  – there is no consent if the consent is given by reason of force, impersonation, threat or intimidation of any kind, fear of harm or false or fraudulent representation as to the nature of the act. Sexual intercourse between a man and a woman who are married is not unlawful while sub-section 4 states that, “sexual intercourse is complete on the slightest penetration of the vagina.”

Section 259 – any person who “penetrates sexually the anus, vagina, mouth or any other opening in the body of another person with a part of his body or anything else, without the consent of the person is guilty of a felony and liable to imprisonment for life.”

Section 277(1)  –  any person who impregnates a woman or girl and fails, refuses or neglects to contribute to maternity related costs from ante-natal to post-natal stages is guilty of an offence and is liable to a fine of N45,000 without prejudice to the recovery of any cost that any other person may have reasonably incurred in relation to the upkeep for the woman or girl.”

Sub-section 2 states that “for the purpose of this section, maternity related costs includes all medical expenses, food expenses, reasonable shelter and other necessaries,” while subsection 3 says “in determining the financial liability of a person under subsection 1 of this law, the court shall have regard to the means and resources available to him.”

Section 263(1) provides that: “Any person who causes another to engage in a sexual activity without that other person’s consent is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for five years.”

Section 265 of the new law deals with bestiality, saying that any person who “has sexual intercourse with an animal is guilty of a felony and liable to imprisonment for three years.”