Characteristics of sexual violence: Study of 127 cases registered in the court of appeals of cotonou Parfait Bigot Cedric Egnonwa1,*, Marie Adovoekpe Jean2, Apelete Agbobli Yawo3, Didier Ekouevi4, Andre Bigot5 1Assistant Professor, Unit of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Health Science, University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin 2Assistant Professor, Unit of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Health Science, University of Parakou, Benin 3Assistant Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lome 4Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lome 5Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin *Corresponding Author: Email: bigot.ce@gmail.com
Online published on 24 September, 2018. Abstract In republic of Benin, rape is a crime for which the law provides harsh penalties. The perpetrators of that form of crime are tried in the courts of appeal by special jurisdictions: the criminal courts. We conducted a case control study on 127 cases of rape investigated and judged by the court of appeal of Cotonou from 2005 to 2015. This research work points out that victims are exclusively women and girls and that 62.2% of them are children under 13 years of age. As regards offenders, all of them are male subjects and young adults in 63.8% of cases. They were acquaintances of the victims in 68.5% of the cases; and they all confessed to the criminal action with which they were charged. The victims were subject to medical examination 7 times out of 10 without police requisition. Those medical consultations confirmed the presence of injuries caused by extra-genital violence in %18.9 of victims. Defloration signs were noted in 79.7% of the girls less than 13 years old. The populations and health professionals should be sensitized about victims’ identification and sociocultural conditions that may facilitate the commission of those crimes; it is an important action to be carried so as to ensure an efficient fight against sexual violence. Top Keywords Sexual assault, Rape, Genital injuries, Forensic-medicine, Benin republic. Top |