The Criminal Code Amendment bill, HB 12, 2020 on Tuesday received accelerated reading during plenary at the Enugu State House of Assembly and was passed.
The bill for a Law to amend the Criminal Code Law, CAP 30 Revised Laws of Enugu State 2004 and for other matters connected therewith sought the amendment of section 200 of the Principal Law.
Section 200 of the Criminal Code Law third paragraph provides that, “A prosecution for either of the offences defined in this section must begin within two months after the offence is committed.”
The above section provides that defilement of girls under the age of 11 is felony punishable by life imprisonment.
Presenting the amendment bill, the sponsor Obieze Chima, member representing Ezeagu constituency argued that no matter the time lapse between the perpetuation of an act and seeking of justice, once the case can be proven, the law should in no way provide some sort of leeway for the perpetrators of the dastard acts.
“No matter the time, a crime is a crime and the offender should be brought to book no matter how long it takes. Once there are collaborated witness and evidence, there should not be any time limit to bringing the culprit to face the Law,” Obieze explained.
Obieze further reiterated that every unlawful carnal knowledge of any person irrespective of gender, the culprit is guilty of felony and should be tried by Law irrespective of time the act was committed.
Supporting the amendment, the Leader of the House, Ezeugwu Ikechukwu, member representing Udenu constituency said, “Given the present upsurge in defilement of the girl child, it is vital that the time lapse clause be expunged so that victims can seek justice whenever they can”.
In his remarks after the passage of the bill, the Speaker, Edward Ubosi thanked his colleagues for supporting the bill and called on them to critically study old laws for possible amendments to suit the exigency of time.
In a later development, Nwamba Chinedu, member representing Nsukka East constituency moved a motion that the Auditor-General’s report on the Annual Accounts of the Government of Enugu State for the years ended 31st Dec, 2018 and 2019 together with the financial statements of the Auditor General be received by the House.
The report was accepted and sitting adjourned to Tuesday, 27th October, 2020.
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