Names of sex offenders names for display and to be announced on radio
Ekiti State government on Monday vowed to go tough on rapists, and paedophiles by enacting laws enabling it to conduct compulsory psychiatric test and publish offenders’ names and photographs on the state’s Ministry of Justice’s website.
The names of such offenders, according to the government, would also be announced on the state-owned radio and television, while the monarch of the town he hailed from would be alerted for them to get information about his personality.
Addressing journalists in Ado Ekiti on Monday, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Wale Fapohunda, expressed concerns that the menace had kept increasing despite a high number of convictions recorded in the state.
He said the governor, Kayode Fayemi, was uncomfortable with the increasing cases of sexual violence and that there was a need for proactive actions to deal decisively with the vice.
Fapohunda said the new measures put in place would support the aggressive prosecution and exclusion of offenders from governor’s Prerogative of Mercy that is already in place.
“The additional measures put in place include pasting the photographs of convicted offenders in prominent public spaces in their communities and their local government headquarters.”
It will also include “issuing an advisory to the traditional rulers of the offender’s communities on the status of the offender and uploading the sex offender’s photograph on the website of the Ministry of Justice.
Part of the measures will be “showing photographs of sex offenders on Ekiti State Broadcasting Service of Ekiti State, announcing their names on radio and television.
“Compulsory psychiatric test on all persons of whom the Director of Public Prosecution has issued a case to answer and legal advice to the offender of child defilement. This also includes persons standing trials,” he said.
The commissioner clarified that the government would take actions that would deprive offenders of their rights to dignity.
Fapohunda stated that the government was aware that conviction alone would not solve the problem, promising that public education and awareness would be stepped up to sensitise the populace.
THE SUN
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