Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT) on Monday disclosed that no fewer than 3,089 cases of sexual, domestic violence were reported in the state in the past eight months. Eyes Of Lagos gathered that, The state’s Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, Mr Adeniji Kazeem, revealed this at the media parley commemorating, the Domestic and Sexual Violence awareness month held in Lagos, noting that the figure was over 200 per cent increase compared to last year’s figure of 1044. Kazeem, who was represented by Permanent Secretary Lagos State Ministry for Justice, Mrs. Funmilola Odunlami also disclosed that seven persons had so far been convicted in the period under review. Reeling out the statistics, he said, ‘’From January 2018 till August 2018, DSVRT has received 3089 reported cases. This indicates that the number of reports has doubled since last year when DVSRT handled a total of 1044 cases for the entire year. ‘’From January 2018 till August, 2018, the Team has handled 1037 cases in the office. 939 Domestic Violence cases, 245 Child Abuse, 40 Defilement cases 22 Rape cases, 13 cases of attempt to commit Rape and Sexual Assault by Penetration, 10 Sexual Assault by Penetration cases and 48 other cases. We have started to see on average 150 new cases monthly. ‘’There have also been reported cases through the 6820 USSD platform which was commissioned in 2017 to facilitate the swift reporting of incidents of Domestic Violence, Sexual Violence and Child Abuse. From 1st of January 2018 till date, DSVRT has received 2052 reports via the 6820 short-code. ‘’ A total of 718 actual cases were reported (a lot of the reporters were testing the short code to see if it actually works). Hence, DSVRT has responded to 357 reports of Domestic Violence, 195 reports of Sexual Abuse and 166 reports of Child Abuse, all reported via the 6820 platform. ‘’What is most exciting about the platform is that it breaks the initial barrier of people not want to make a formal report at an office or police station, we are now able to interact directly with survivors and concerned witnesses and take vital steps in dealing with a case.’’
