judgement RPA 2875: Prosecutor against the accused Hungu Benjamin Tarcisse
In his statement, delivered and enacted on the 12th April 2012 to the Clerk of the Court of First
Instance of Bukavu, the Public Prosecutor's substitute Mr. PACIQUE MAGADJU on behalf of
the Prosecution, appealed judgement R.P. 13838, pronounced on the 11th of April 2012 by
said jurisdiction, for deeming it ill-advised.
In the terms of said judgement, the concerned Court established the fact and crime of
Defilement (rape of children) perpetrated by the accused HUNGU BENJAMIN, sentencing
him, having taken into consideration extenuating circumstances, to 3 years of imprisonment
and to the payment of a 200.000 Congolese Francs fine, within the legal time frame or face
30 days of detention, sentencing him to offer to pay the victim Francine WASSO damages
equivalent to 2.000$; lastly sentencing him to pay the proceedings' fees within the legal time
frame or face 30 days of detention.
In the public hearing of the 25th July 2013, in which this case was appealed, investigated,
argued and taken into deliberation, the accused was present in person to hear the arguments,
assisted by his counselor Master DAVUD BUNGAMBA, lawyer at the Bar of Bukavu.
The procedure taken is thus in conformity.
It follows from the file's contents and the elements gathered during the hearing that the facts
in question can be summarized as follows: On the 10th April 2012, the accused HUNGU
BENJAMIN NARCISSE invites the victim FRANCINE WASSO, aged 16 and student of the 3rd
secondary year, to a birthday party organized at his home in Kadutu where he offers her two
bottles of sugary Coca Cola, late at night, after having unsuccessfully tried to convince her to
spend the night with his sisters, he decides to take her back home in Nyamugo where she is
not certain of being welcomed by the parents, whose precise instructions regarding returning
hours had been so ignored by her. On the way, the accused asks her to satisfy his sexual
appetites. It is on the staircase of the place known as the old COOPERA of Kadutu that the
Police officers on patrol surprise them to the sound of the young girl's moaning; detained and
presented in front of the Prosecutor where they are heard, the accused depicts his friendship
with the victim whom he describes as his girlfriend and declares that the latter freely
consented to the sexual intercourse that took place, whereas she pretends to have been
forced by the accused, when her cries that alerted the Police officers saved her from her
torturer's grip, the accused. Having realized that the victim is apparently underage, after she
declared to have been born on the 10th March 1997, the Prosecution decides to change the
charges to flagrante delicto in front of the 1st judge that sentenced him as described.
In front of the Court, the accused recognizes, as he had done in front of the 1 st judge, that he
had sexual intercourse with the victim that night but without knowing her age. He claims that,
being currently married, the victim could not but be of legal age at the time of the events.
Taking advantage of the Prosecution's appeal, the accused alleges that the 1 st judge should
have acquitted him on the basis of doubt about the exact age of the victim, a doubt that, he
claimed, would have benefited him as the accused, further demands that the Court nullify the
judgement that sentenced him, deliberate again and declare the crimes of which he is
accused as not established and acquit him.