Lagos Handled 10,007 Cases Of Domestic, Sexual Violence In Two Years – Onigbanjo

Governor Sanwo-Olu

LAGOS State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT) has revealed that from May 2019 till August 26, 2021, under the administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, handled a total of 10,007 reported cases, which include domestic violence and sexual violence perpetrated against adults and children.

The Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN) disclosed this during a media parley commemorating the domestic and sexual violence awareness month on Wednesday in Alausa, Ikeja.

The attorney-general, who is also the DSVRT Chairman, said the team provides a coordinated response and creates unprecedented levels of collaboration among professionals working to end sexual and gender-based violence in the state.

While giving a breakdown of the data for the period under review, Onigbanjo highlighted that “From May 2019 till August 26, 2021, the team has handled 10,007 cases which are into two categories, adults and children.”

He gave a breakdown of the cases as follows: domestic violence (4,150), rape (177), attempt to commit rape/sexual assault (255), sexual assault by penetration/threat (246 ), and separation, not taking responsibility for the child(ren), neglect, custody of the child, non-GBV, among others, (877).

 Other offences are child abuse/physical assault (436), defilement cases (271), (defilement by minor to minor (13), child labour, abduction neglect/others (454), sexual harassment/molestation cases (148).

The commissioner said that a “total of 2,980 children have experienced emotional abuse (i.e. these children have been exposed to domestic violence within the home). Some of these children have been taken through counselling programmes to ensure they are able to psychologically deal with the events they have witnessed without it having a permanent and negative impact on them.”

He said that “Since May 2019, the team began to attend to on average 150 new cases monthly.

“We have also witnessed an increase in reporting of cases from other states, mostly from Ogun and Oyo. In the past two years, a total of 526 cases occurred outside Lagos. Such cases are promptly referred to the relevant agencies in their respective states.”