DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: ECOWAS Court awards N50m damages against Nigerian govt

For not giving her access to justice, the Economic Community of West African States Court of Justice has ordered the Federal Government of Nigeria to pay a victim of domestic violence, Mary Sunday, the sum of N50 million as damages.

Severe injuries were reportedly inflicted on the victim by her fiancé, Isaac Gbanwuan, in August 2012 in Lagos following a heated argument.

Her fiancé, a Nigerian Police Officer, who allegedly brutally beat her up, was said to have picked up a boiling pot of stew and poured it on her.

Consequently, Mary Sunday, from Akwa Ibom State, suffered extreme burns, lost her ears, and has not been able work or walk freely on the streets, as a result of the burns on her body which has resulted in deformation and incapacitation.

The Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre and its Gambian partner, Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa, went to the ECOWAS Court in August 2005 on her behalf.

In the case with suit No. ECW/CCJ/APP/26/15 WARDC & IHRDA (on behalf of Mary Sunday) vs Federal Republic of Nigeria, the complainants alleged that the Nigerian government failed to effectively investigate the incident, prosecute and punish the perpetrator of the violations.

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It was also alleged that the man who perpetrated the crime was using his influence in the police to cover up his tracks and walked freely on the streets, while he is said to have moved on with another woman and are since married.

But delivering its verdict on Thursday in Abuja, the three-man panel led by Justice Wilkins Wright (Presiding Judge), the ECOWAS Court found Nigeria guilty of violating Mary’s right to access to justice, and right to have her case heard.

The Court however exonerated the government saying it did not violate her right to freedom from discrimination and gender-based violence.

The ECOWAS Court therefore ordered Nigeria to pay Mary Sunday financial reparation amounting to N50 million (about $138,000 US).

The judgment was upheld by two other judges, Justice Jerome Traore and Justice Alioune Sall.

In her emotion-laden response to the verdict, following the pronouncement, Mary Sunday said, “I have suffered so much pain since the incident happened, and had never known I will get justice someday. I don’t know how to thank the lawyers who took it upon themselves to give me hope and assist me in seeking justice.”

The Executive Directors of WARDC, Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi and her IHRDA counterpart, Gaye Sowe, commended the decision of the ECOWAS Court which they describe as “a progressive and important jurisprudence for the promotion and protection of women’s rights in Nigeria, the West Africa sub-region and Africa as a whole.”

 

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