Sgd 4/3/2015. It is intriguing that although the appellant denied having had a carnal knowledge of the prosecutrix Ezinne, in Exhibit P4, he alluded to the statement he had earlier made at Afikpo South Divisional Police Station on 23rd Feb., 2015 and that he made that statement voluntarily. That is Exhibit P3. A part from that, it is glaring to me that from the gamut of Exhibits P3 and P4, it is doubtless, that the prosecutrix Ezinne spent the night of 20th February, 2015 with the appellant, in the latters room. The prosecutrix alleged that she was raped three times on that fateful night, but the appellant in Exhibit P4 said, he did not. Now, Section 34 of the Ebonyi State Childs Rights and Related Matters Law, 2010 upon which the appellant was charged and arraigned for prosecution provides thus: Section 34 (1) No person shall have sexual intercourse with a child. Section 34 (2) A person who contravenes the provision of Subsection (1) of this Section commits an offence of rape and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for life. Section 34 (3) Where a person is charged with an offence under this Section, it is immaterial that: (a) the offender believed the person to be of or above the age of eighteen years or (b) the sexual intercourse was with the consent of the child. Therefore, to prove the offence of rape, the prosecution is required to establish that:

Select target paragraph3

Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents