Hand harsher punishment to child rapists

Most sex offenders, which studies put at 97 per cent, are well known to their victims.

Child sex offenders, who commit sex crimes against minors, purport to be guardians of the children but insanely take lewd advantage of the innocent souls.

Paedophilia is a sexual offence on prepubescent children. Child sex offences include statutory rape — having carnal knowledge of someone below the age of consent, 18.

An adult inappropriately touching an underage person is also a sexual offence, so is sending obscene sexual content to a minor or making sexual contact with a minor.

Sex without consent, or rape, is widely known. So is child pornography — filming of sexual acts with a child.

A March 2016 survey by the United Nations and the government shows a third of Kenyan girls are subjected to sexual violence by age 18 and three-quarters of the children experience physical sexual and emotional violence.

TACKLE STIGMA

Sexual touching, attempted sex against the child’s will, or forced sex was experienced by 32 per cent of girls and 18 per cent of boys before they turned 18.

Most of these offences remain hidden and unprosecuted as families worry more about societal judgement than seeking justice.

They victimise the traumatised children by making them feel guilty about the acts. They ask ridiculous questions like, “What did you do to make him do that to you?” — which show little empathy to victims and sympathy to offenders.

In an African culture, where the ‘adult is always right’, most child sex victims are traumatised further when reporting such conditions to people of authority.

Some adults find the offences disturbingly comical and the hope for justice is occasionally a painfully unattainable distant dream.

Most child sex offenders find it very easy to repeat their felonies because of an incompetent understaffed cruel police force that isn’t trained accordingly to compile evidence and is content with taking bribes from perpetrators and less focused on investigating cases.

EARNING TRUST

If the cases make it to court, they are often dismissed for lack of evidence.

Child sex offenders have a pattern. In several cases, they have raped, molested and coerced hundreds of victims into submission, infecting them with sexually transmitted infections before suspicions are raised.

In the seduction and manipulative period, the offender, who is familiar to the victim, makes the latter feel comfortable around them by allowing them to do things that would otherwise be prohibited.

By the time they commit their first miscreant act, the victim is helplessly trusting. When caught, they become elusive or move to a different location to continue with the criminality.

LIFE IMPRISONMENT

The only cure for a child sex culprit is life imprisonment. It’s inconceivable when well-known offenders are handed a prison sentence of less than 15 years.

When they walk free, their insatiable evilness will be more invigorated and they will be more determined to revenge.

In statutory rape offences, overt force or threat is often not present. In most international statutory rape laws, coercion is always presumed because a minor is considered mentally incapable and vulnerable towards the perpetrator’s villainous advances.

Mr Anthony is a novelist, a Big Brother Africa 2 Kenyan representative and founder of Jeff’s Fitness Center @Jeffbigbrother