Castration for pedophiles, going Indonesian way!

By Sunmola Olowookere
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The clamouring for medical castration for sexual offences against children by the courts in some countries of the world began like a trickle of water but it is gradually gaining momentum.

Sometimes in the year 2018, a women group, International Federation of Women Lawyers, FIDA, Ondo State staged a peaceful protest wherein they called for castration for sex offenders, so that, it would serve as a deterrent to others.

Last year also, the wife of Ekiti State Governor, Bisi Fayemi equally called for the same sentence for sex offenders. In some parts of the world, women groups are now calling for this kind of sentencing and it seems to be gaining momentum. Nigerian women groups are not the only one in the struggle.

Recently, the Indonesian President, Joko Widodo, submitted to the people’s demand, signed a decree authorizing chemical castration for convicted child sex offenders and suggested that those released on parole among this group should wear electronic monitoring devices.

The new punishment comes in response to the brutal gang rape and murder in April, 2019 of a 14-year-old girl on her way home on the island of Sumatra. Seven teenage boys who were alleged and prosecuted in connection with the crime were each sentenced to 10 years in prison.

This sentence prompted national outrage and revived previous calls for chemical castration as a punishment against child sex offenders.

Through chemical castration, drugs are used to reduce a person’s sex drive. A number of countries have employed the punishment for convicted sex offenders and pedophiles, in many cases in exchange for more lenient prison sentences. They include Australia, Russia, South Korea and the United States.

A similar situation occurred in Ondo State around July 2018 when the daughter of a former Deputy Governor of the state was raped and brutally murdered by her boyfriend in league with his cohorts. The girl was then buried in a shallow grave in the boyfriend’s room.

He was prosecuted and subsequently sentenced to death by hanging for murder according to Nigerian law. Although he claimed that she was raped and  murdered by some guys she brought to his house, the prosecution was able to prove that he was the one in league with the guys he mentioned.

However, the prosecution could not establish a case of rape against him. The trail was simply too cold.

The autopsy could not identify signs of rape on her decomposed body. It could only deduce shaved private part, broken bones and mutilations.

The outrage was very loud as non governmental organizations called on the government to sign his death warrant as a matter of urgency and sentenced sex offenders to be castrated.

The Ondo State government has however declared recently that it would not allow its hands to be stained by blood and would rather commute death sentence to a lesser sentence such as life imprisonment.

The Indonesian experience was a bold statement as Mr. Joko told a news conference at the presidential palace in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, that he had signed a decree amending the country’s 2002 law on child protection to enable judges to hand down the punishment at their discretion.

“The inclusion of such an amendment will provide space for the judge to decide severe punishments as a deterrent effect on perpetrators,” Mr. Joko said.

“These crimes have undermined the development of children, and these crimes have disturbed our sense of peace, security and public order,” he said. “So, we will handle it in an extraordinary way.”

Mr. Joko said that “sexual violence against children has increased significantly” in Indonesia, although his government has not provided data to back his assertions. He also increased the jail sentences for child sex offenders to a maximum of 20 years from 10 years.

Last year, Mr. Joko, claimed Indonesia was facing a “drugs crisis,” removed an unofficial moratorium on capital punishment by executing 13 convicted drug traffickers  by firing squad, all but one of them foreigners, prompting international condemnation. A second Indonesian was also executed for murder.

The country’s news media has cited the country’s National Commission on Violence against Women as saying that around 35 Indonesian women a day are victims of sexual violence.

However, there are many skeptics of the procedure of Medical castration, which was first performed in the 1940s.

To combat the phenomenal increase in sexual violence against children, our nation needs to come up with innovation that would shock would be offenders into changing from their evil ways.

Rape especially on a female minor is better heard than experienced. It is gruesome. I  have observed a trend in minors that are raped when they are brought to court. It is an aura of being a little crazy.

Little did their parents know that this young ones would need a psychiatrist help before they totally lose it.

Some of these young ones rarely get over the nasty experience. 10 years ago, a widow went to seek spiritual help from a prophetess at a church in Ijoka road, Akure.

The widow came with her children; a boy of five years and a girl of three and a half years.

As the prophetess was attending to the mother, the children were playing outside the church. The prophetess had a 14 year old houseboy. He planned to rape the little girl.

He gave the boy a ball to play with in order to occupy him and lured the little girl into the mission house kitchen with sweets. He pinned the girl on the kitchen floor and had his wicked way with her.

The mother who was growing uneasy inside the church as she probably felt her children were in danger went looking for them and subsequently discovered the girl where she was being raped and strangulated so she would not be able to scream out.

The mother was shocked and screamed out, but the prophetess cajoled the woman and washed the girl’s private part. She also applied “anointing” oil and assured them that it was all over. The cowed mother took her children home quietly.

However, the cat was let out of the bag when pus began to come out of the girl’s vagina and the mother had to take her to the hospital. All hell was let loosed as the hospital staff got the mother arrested after examining the poor girl.

She spilled the beans and explained that the prophetess threatened that she would die if she told anyone about what happened to her daughter at the church’s mission house.

The police swung into action. The prophetess and her houseboy were arrested, prosecuted and sentenced accordingly. Here was a frightened widow who had sought refuge and succour from the church, but unfortunately was brutalized and thrown out to the world again.

People no longer know whom to trust as some shepherds have turned to predators preying on the flock that they ought to protect.

While the mother cried as she testified in court, the victim was playing in the court and laughing at her own antics, still unaware of the stigma that had been attached to her person.

It is high time that Nigeria begin to treat the issue of pedophiles with the seriousness they deserve.

Nigeria must go the Indonesian way, and consider medical castration for children molesters.

The future of the girl child must be assured. This trend must be nipped in the bud.