accusations).
A child shall be questioned only in the presence of its parents or if needed in the presence of
a witness (LESSUEUR, Special Summary of Penal Law), p. 128;
For the Court, it is relevant to raise the issue that, in this case, the procedure began with the
exposure of Mr. LIKOTSHIA Baudoin, the victim's uncle (shelf marks 1 to 3 in the file),
followed by the appellant's voluntary confession of the facts of which he was accused. It was
only much later that the victim was heard (thus being the last); Additionally, despite the
absence of the medical report in the file and besides the confessions in front of the Official of
the Judiciary Police, the appellant had declared in front of the OPJ that he had been the
author of the fondling and caresses on “the frontal side of the body” and on the thighs ( shelf
marks 10 to 11 in the file) as well as on the breasts (in front of the Prosecution, shelf mark 23,
verso); In this way, the Court is advised that the complaint about insufficient motivation taking
the absence of the parents or an adult is not justified;
The matter being the merits of the case, rape is defined by, through grave or forceful violence
or threat, inflicted whether by surprise, by psychological passion, by abusing the occurrence
of illness, impairment or loss of consciousness, or by deprivation of consciousness by any
device:
1st introducing one's sexual organ, even superficially, in a woman's, or for a woman to force
a man to introduce even superficially his sexual organ in hers;
2nd penetrating, even superficially, a part of the body or (inserting) an object in the vagina;
3rd penetrating, even superficially, the anus, the mouth or an orifice in a woman's or man's
body with a sexual organ, some part of the body or by any object;
4th forcing a man or a woman to penetrate, even superficially, his or her anus, the mouth or
some orifice of the body by a sexual organ, by another part of the body or by an object.
It follows from this definition that the crime of rape demands the ensemble of the following
elements, at once material and intellectual:
The material elements, characterized by:
The sexual intercourse; The intromission of a sexual organ in the anus or in the mouth;
The introduction of another part of the body or of an object in the vagina; The penetration of
the anus, the mouth or any other bodily orifice by a sexual organ, by every other part of the
body or by any object; As well as by the defect or absence of consent.
The intellectual element, characterized by the conscious will ton consummate sexual
intercourse or penetration with a non-consenting person.
The matter being the rape of children, article 170 of Law number 09/001 of the 10 th of January
2009 concerning the protection of children states that: “the rape of children is punishable with
seven to twenty years of imprisonment and of a fine of eight hundred thousand to one million
Congolese Francs; An article 171 of said Law enumerates the different kinds or cases of the
rape of children;