I helped in a research project with a
Canadian student of law on victims and during the short period that I assisted,
I was able to observe, evaluate and reach possible conclusions on a number of
issues with regards to victims, their family and the outcome of these cases.
I was able to conclude that
ninety percent (90%) of these victims are generally uninformed about the due
process of the law and most do not even understand why the law or the trial
should operate in a particular fashion.
For instance, most do not know why the case is being committed to the
High Court or why it takes a long time for cases to come up in the High
Court. In the midst of these uncertainties,
there have emerged four different classes of victims who respond to the system
in various and conflicting ways.
There are those who have the
endurance to withstand the rigid and complex process of the law and are actively
involved despite the long period of almost two and half years, which is usually
the approximate time frame that these cases take before final judgement is
delivered. Though not always, they are
mostly the average income earners who are able to do a constant follow-up with
the police officers or court registrar that has been assigned to a case. After two years and five months, a single
mother was able to hear the judgement of her daughter’s abusers. She was only able to do so by thorough
follow-up.
There are those who may want to
take an active part in the process but are not properly informed and do not
have the resources to do the necessary follow-up. Although few in this class are not informed
when their case is called upon in the High Court because they might have
changed address or their address could not be located as was in the case of a
victim whose parents thought that the case has never been called upon when in
fact the case has been called for almost two months in the High Court. They only know when I was able to trace them
and informed them of the development of which they were totally oblivious of.
The quite majority of victims
fall to the class in which they become frustrated because of the very long -
time over a year, that the cases have to wait before it is being called upon in
the High Court. Most of them are
ignorant of the reason for this unnecessary delay and as such lose faith and
interest in the trials. They forget
about the trial and brand the justice system as unjust and ineffective. There had been quite a number of victims
whose parents I have called and they told me that the system have failed them,
they do not want to have anything to do with the court again and they are tired
of waiting. The worst part is that some
of them during this period are almost always reluctant to continue with any
form of trial or even be reminded of the case.
The least group are those who settle
for less. They accept monetary
consideration from the family of the accused and strike a compromise in which
they will not participate in any form of trial.
This is in line with some form of African culture and a particular
victim’s father told me that they are very poor, they cannot afford constant
transportation to go to court or even afford a lawyer and it would only be a
long futile journey to engage in any form of trial and the family and child’s
name will be negatively branded.
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