‘Stop Out-of-Court Settlement on Rape’

Wife of Bayelsa  State Governor, Dr. Rachel Dickson, yesterday objected to the rising cases of settlement of rape and assault cases outside the legal system, insisting that it would spur suspects to continue to violate innocent girls and boys. Specifically, Mrs. Dickson warned  parents, guardians and traditional rulers against shielding rapists, pedophiles and other criminal elements and resist the pressure to be paid off with paltry sums when such cases happen. Speaking during the visit of Commonwealth Women in Parliament (African Region), to St. Jude’s Girls Secondary School, Amarata, Yenagoa, the governor’s wife urged members of the public to always shame rapists and violators of children. During a panel discussion, anchored by Miss Mabel Obiriki, a Bayelsa scholarship beneficiary and female first-class student of the Lincoln University, United States of America on the theme, ‘Girl-Child Education: A Panacea for a Stable Society’, the Governor’s wife, a university lecturer, also warned parents against encouraging their girl-child to indulge in street hawking instead of being at school. .