requirement is that the minor must have been knowingly or
voluntarily led and displaced by a third party for a certain period
of time, even if the minor had consented to this, and without there
being any reason to consider the circumstance which, at the time
the incriminated acts took place, the minor had already left, of his
own free will, the domicile or residence where he normally stayed;
that, in other words, the offence of statutory rape presupposes, in
addition to the material act of rape, a guilty intention; that this
guilty intention is analysed according to knowledge that the
accused had the conscious intention to abduct or misled a minor
from the authority of his parents or from the custody of the persons
to whom the minor had been subjected or entrusted for a certain
period of time; that the accused's knowledge of the age of the
victim is a determining factor in this guilty intention;
Whereas in this case, the accused admits having accommodated
the victim in his home for about ten days; whereas he tries to justify
his attitude by the fact that he considered the victim as his
girlfriend and that he intended to marry her; whereas it has been
established that the victim was only 12 (twelve) years old at the
time of the events and therefore lived with her mother in Sector 01
of the victim's home in Ouahigouya; that despite multiple orders
from the latter to return the above-mentioned minor to her place of
habitual residence, the accused did not deign to comply; that such
an action by the accused, even if devoid of any violence or fraud,
undoubtedly constitutes the material act of statutory rape referred
to above;
Whereas the accused W.M was well aware of the victim's
minority; that he himself recalled this throughout the investigation
of the case in court; that despite everything, he did not deign to
renounce his act; that by deciding to take her from her mother's
residence to his home, the accused was well aware that he was
participating in taking her away from her parents' authority; that
he was therefore not unaware of the reprehensible nature of his act;
that his guilty intention was therefore established; that it was
appropriate to convict him of the offence of statutory rape, to find
him guilty of it and to seek a conviction against him;
B- Sentence
Whereas it is clear from the provisions of Article 532-18 of the
Penal Code that "anyone who, without violence, threats or fraud,
abducts or seduces or attempts to seduce or abduct a minor shall
be punished by 1 (one) to 10 (ten) years' imprisonment and a fine
of CFAF 1,000,000 to 5,000,000”;