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I have looked at Sections 234 and 122 of the Criminal Code but they do
not provide any clear definition of what constitutes kidnapping from
lawful guardianship and rape respectively. Rather Section 232 of the
Criminal Code sets out the elements to be established with regards to
a Section 234 offence as follows:
(a) That a girl was enticed and kept away from her lawful guardian,
(b) That her guardian did not give his/her consent,
(c) That the girl was under 18 years old,
(d) That the act was that of the accused person.
In order to ground a conviction under Section 122 of the Criminal
Code, Section 121 requires that the prosecution must first establish
the following:
(a) That there was carnal knowledge of the Prosecutrix,
(b) That the act was unlawful,
(c) That the Prosecutrix did not give her consent, and
(d) That the act was that of the accused person.
I will now proceed to deal with these two sections one after the other.
With regards to the Section 234 Count, there is unchallenged evidence
from the prosecution that PW1 was kept away from her lawful
guardian for two nights. The accused himself confirms this fact when
he stated in his evidence-in-chief that “… my brother’s wife now
informed me that… the prosecutrix got lost and they searched for her
the whole night. I stayed… till mid night and the girl was not seen”.