“CHIEF JUSTICE” RAPED ME”

Author: LAWYER FIDEL LEVIEL

Three friends bore the same first name even though they were of different ages. One day, the three friends went out for an event. It was a fashion parade of which one of the three was the Master of Ceremonies (MC) for the day.

Before the programme began, the three friends were housed in the same hotel accommodation while awaiting the start of events.

PERSONALITY PROFILE OF MC
The MC was a very famous personality, cherished and loved by many, especially, by the daughters of Eve in their elegance and splendour. Even though he shared the same first name as the other two, many differentiated him by calling him Chief, perhaps because he was the oldest of the three.

Every beautiful girl wanted to catch a glimpse of him. They would do anything to take ‘selfies and autographs of him. His images were found all over social media. He was thick, tall, handsome, muscular and simply enchanting. The father was British and the mother a Ghanaian.

In other words, he was what was typically described in Ghana as a half-caste. He had blue eyes, hairy chest, and very majestic in all his ways. A perfect gentleman he was. Always well kempt, with smelling fragrance of French perfume exuding sweetly from his body. He was a heart-throb for the ladies.

To make matters ‘worse’, his physical talents were crowned with a brain of high intelligence quotient. A Medical Doctor he was. He even went ahead to specialize in mental health. In other words, he was a psychiatrist. He studied psychology in school as well. He loved the arts and entertainment industry as a hobby. Girls loved him, he was rich and loved to spend lavishly on his friends and acquaintances.

Ironically, he was not into women so much. He only loved smoking ‘weed’ heavily with a little wine to make his day. I overheard his ex-girlfriend reminiscing the other day that he had a naturally endowed, long, elongated, thick, juicy wood of a machine gun that got her addicted and unready to quit. That he knew how to twist and turn like a belly dancer. Very articulate with his tiny waist line, he could twist backward, forward, sideways and then complete the cycle by coming out to sweep around. The cycle continued until they reached their destination in peace and safety with so much satisfaction of pleasure and wellbeing. He was so talented at locating erogenous zones in seconds. Whilst at it, he had dexterity with his fingers as they would play skillfully and gently and in a circular fashion with the only short guitar string that God gave any and every lady unless denied by anachronistic traditions.

AT THE EVENT
He was informed in the hotel room that it was time to call the show to order. So, he descended to the event ground with his two other friends. The whole place was agog. Beautiful ladies, handsome men, ugly –but- rich men, handsome- but- empty -pocketed men, six- packs men with hairy chests but fleeting purchasing power etc.

The ladies were of all shapes and sizes. Upon seeing this, one of his friends whispered into his ears, quoting Don Quixote thus: “unless a man dies young, he must surely eat bearded meat” tonight. All of them burst out laughing. Slim, shapely, short, tall, all categories of ladies had representation. It was an awesome scenery. Heaven must be an abhorrent place for sinners! There is pleasure and pain co-existing indeed in life!

MC took the microphone and everybody shouted his name. One could see the lustful eyes of the half-exposed daughters of the earth as they beckoned at him just to catch his attention.

Well, the show went on and on until 3:00am when everything came to an end. Meanwhile, whilst the event was ongoing and at the backstage, one daring, gorgeous, enchanting and glorious princess went up to him and planted a kiss on his innocent lips and told him she loved him. She took his telephone number and promised to visit him at his hotel room after the programme.

The programme ended and the security whisked him away together with his friends to his hotel room. It was not quite long afterwards when this lady traced him to where he was. She sat in their midst in the hall. They conversed heartily, drinking wine and making merry. It is pertinent to mention that this beautiful lady by name Naomi Asare, attended the programme with her fiancé. So, whilst Naomi was having fun with the guys, her fiancé and other friends were all over the place looking for her. Obviously, she had placed her phone on airplane mode so as to prevent her boyfriend and other friends from reaching her.

At this moment too, chief said he was tired and wanted to take a shower (remember he was popularly known as Chief and Doctor too). Naomi insisted she would take the shower with him. So, with persuasion from his friends, he agreed to go shower with her. Accordingly, the two new love birds had a good time in there which eventually transitioned them from the shower to the bed room where they consummated their passion away.

FIANCE APPROACHES
One of the security men directed Naomi’s fiancé and other friends to where she was. At this moment, the two love birds were engaged in amorous affairs that only an articulated truck could disengage them. MC kept thrusting and thrusting, to and fro, sideways, within and without her non killable living organ attached to her mortal organism. ‘Organs are organs but some organs are more organs’ than others. Every daughter of Eve that discovers the power of her organ is powerful herself. Shut up! Young boys from Adam, I am not talking to you, man! You are as powerless as your index finger. Noise makers! Anyway, let me continue with my mission, that is, elucidating a legal formulation that I (the narrator) consider inimical to the liberty of these supposedly powerful majority called men.

At one moment she took over the driving seat and drove expertly to the destination. They both fell asleep for thirty minutes and woke up again. Doctor continued with the drive and just at the point he was about to arrive again, ‘Mrs.’ said she was tired and therefore doctor should stop. Doctor craved her indulgence for just a few seconds so as to arrive safely and to prevent any unforeseen biological disaster. So, he continued for just thirty seconds at the end of which he was moaning like the cow in my village which was returning from the fields after a good grazing session.

Meanwhile at this moment Naomi’s fiancé who was a barrister of the Supreme Court of Ghana and Naomi’s friends were at the hall with Doctor’s friends, pretending they were watching television whilst waiting for their supposed sister. Apparently, they had convinced Doctor’s friends that they were siblings and that Naomi directed them to come wait for her.

After a while, the two love birds appeared, looking dehydrated and tired as if they were athletes who had just successfully completed a cross country race even though they occupied the last position. Chiefs back too was full of scratches which he sustained from the ‘running down action’ of Naomi’s pedicure and manicure against the integrity of his skin. Now I understand why our dear women love to wear extra nails. They serve both a ‘judicial and extra judicial’ purposes. Let’s take this for a comic relief.

Seeing that she was caught in this compromising position by her fiancé she was betrothed to marry in two months’ time, she immediately replaced the ecstasy and glory on her face with a grimace, rage and anger. That was a very intelligent way of rationalizing the event for the acceptance of her husband -to -be.

She quickly left the room without bidding any one goodbye, not even her newly found ‘supremo’. Everyone was dumbfounded at the turn of events. What was his own? Doctor received ‘fans’ from his friends and after a while decided to retire to bed since he had a presentation to make at the Ghana Bar Association Conference the following day. He was invited to make that presentation in his capacity as a Medical Doctor who had specialized in Mental Health and who also doubled as a psychologist. The topic was THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MAKEUP OF A MAN AND A WOMAN VIS A VIS SEX.

They all went to bed. Chief woke up very early morning the following day feeling very much invigorated, full of energy and enthusiasm. You need not ask where this new zeal came from. He prepared and left for the Accra International Conference Centre where the event was taking place.

All was set for his turn at the presentation. All lawyers and Judges including the Chief Justice of the Republic, were seated, in their full regalia, expecting much from this star Doctor cum Psychologist. At the end of his presentation, everyone was satisfied that they had had a good lecture, an eye opener and that the take homes were much and rewarding. Notable from the presentation, and in no particular order were the following:

1. that women were sexually attracted by touch and sound (sweet words, for example).
2. that men were sexually attracted by what they saw (transparent sea blue nightie, for example).
3. that when a man was erected and elongated, it would take only orgasm to make him return to normalcy (Resolution).
4. that when men were unable to reach orgasm, it tended to give them severe headaches, high blood pressure etc. and made them easily irritable.
5. that it was not an easy thing for the average man to be told to stop thrusting and withdraw in the course of a consenting sexual activity.
6. that women know the psychological weakness of men, i.e. that men are sexually attracted by what they see. That is the reason some women dress provocatively so as to draw attention from men and even to commercialize that attention so caught.
7. that except masochists, no woman enjoys violent sex.
8. that women are a weaker vessel and thus need protection, care and love from men.
9. that it is correct to do a proper foreplay with a woman before a sexual encounter as this will aid smooth and easy penetration.
10. that only a negligible fraction of men like the biblical Joseph could resist the temptation of a woman to seduce them.
11. that women could stay off sex for a longer time than men. The reason he gave was that it was very easy for women to tune off their minds from sex. More so, the events that turn them on are very easily avoidable, for example, touch, sweet words etc.
12. that men on the other hand are naturally unable to stay off sex for a long time partly because the things that turn them on are so profound and prominent in society, for example, nudity, provocative dressing, commercialization of sex, etc. In other words, availability and access make the tendency to have sex very high in men.

So, the meeting ended and everyone was pleased. The above were common knowledge but to come from an expert with emphasis on the effects of certain adverse biological happenings on the emotions and sexual responses from both men and women was quite engaging. One thing that caught the attention of everybody was the education on the sexual response cycle. It was to the effect that having a sexual activity was a cycle that had to go through all phases to complete successfully. That anything short of the complete cycle resulted adversely in health on the participants. The phases were as follows:

1. Preparatory Phase (having thoughts for sex, calling a sexual partner to visit you etc),
2. Excitement phase (touching your sexual partner’s sex organs, kissing and romancing, etc.),
3. Plateau Phase (Peak of excitement, high temperature, high blood pressure, high pulse rate, elongated penis with visibly distended veins, wet vagina, sexual intercourse, etc.),
4. Orgasmic Phase (orgasm, i.e., discharge of semen and spermatozoa, sense of wellbeing and satisfaction) and
5. Resolution Phase (return of all indicators such as high blood pressure, high temperature, high pulse rate, high heart rate back to normalcy).

What this meant was that if anybody agreed to a sexual encounter and in the middle of the act, for example, at the plateau phase, decided to willfully withdraw consent and the affected partner by God’s grace was able to obey this withdrawn consent and abrogated the sexual act, he or she would go through the above physiological adverse effects as there would be no orgasm or resolution.

POLICE
It was after he finished this presentation that two police men met him outside the conference venue. That he was under arrest. That one Naomi Asare had reported to the police that he had raped her the previous night. Confused, flabbergasted, dumfounded, so much mumble jumble and higgledy-piggledy were the content of his brain matter at this time. For a moment, he thought it was a case of mistaken identity but for the mention of the name “Naomi Asare.” He was whisked away to the police station, interrogated and detained for further investigation. When news got to his name sakes and friends, they quickly ran to the police station to stand surety for Chief to be granted bail pending police investigation.

WHAT HAPPENED?
It was the case that the fiancé of Naomi, who was a Barrister, threatened cancelling their wedding plans if she did not confess to him what actually took place that night with Chief. So, Naomi averred that Chief deceived her into his bedroom and raped her. She further stated that she even shouted that Chief should stop what he was doing but chief refused and continued callously to satisfy himself. So, the fiancé made her to report to the police and thus the arrest of Chief. Being a Lawyer in Ghana, the fiancé knew the legal ingredients or elements of the offence of rape. He was satisfied that rape could be established from the facts. So, he advised her to report the case to the police.

Chief had heard of rape on daily basis but had never adverted his mind to what it actually meant technically or jurisprudentially. Whilst at home he had sleepless nights trying to fathom what it actually meant to rape somebody. Poor young man! “...... but we both enjoyed this thing”, he soliloquized. “. Where did the rape start and where did it end...?”, he continued. The only thing he remembered was that at the performance of the last round and just when he was at the middle of the sea, Naomi said he should stop because she was tired but he continued for just some 30 seconds more because he could not control himself naturally having regards to the realm at which he had gotten to. Even though Naomi said she was tired, she continued to moan and groan accordingly, in ecstasy. There was no physical struggle. They all enjoyed to the end. Well, he continued reporting daily to the police station following the bail granted him by the police.

PRESENTATION ON RAPE AND DOCTOR’S REACTIONS

On one of the days and still in his pensive mood in his room, Chief heard from the television that a prominent lawyer of good repute was to make a presentation to medical staff of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. The topic was: THE LEGAL CONCEPT OF RAPE IN GHANA. This drew his curiosity and so on the said date, he attended the workshop. He wanted it so badly. He occupied the front seat, paying rapt attention so much so that even if a needle dropped on the floor, he could hear the sound. That was his attention level. Not sure his pastor at church could elicit that amount of attention from this young man on the second coming of Jesus Christ.

At the end of the lecture, the following were the take home:

1. that rape was defined in Section 98 of the Criminal Offences Act of 1960 (Act 29) as “…. the carnal knowledge of a female of not less than sixteen years without her consent”. At this point his heart leapt. He began asking questions again. Obviously, Naomi was more than 22years. She consented too. In fact, she initiated the whole process from start to end. So why was she accusing him of rape? “Well, let me continue to listen to the expert”, he said to himself.
2. that a person who committed rape committed a first-degree felony and was liable on conviction to a term of imprisonment of not less than five years and not more than twenty-five years. Chief started having palpitations at this time. He could literally hear his heart sounding like a drum in his ears. He turned back to watch if any other person was hearing his heart beat and perhaps suspecting him of rape.
3. That in proving carnal knowledge above, the least degree of penetration will suffice as rape. See section 99 of the Criminal Offences Act (supra). Then if all women knew of the laws regarding rape in Ghana as it were, almost all men would be in jail, ranting “What kind of law is that?” He thought in his mind. As a medical person, a psychiatrist and a psychologist, this beat his imagination. Then he recalled the presentation he made to the Ghana Bar Association the other day. “Did they take those realities of the natural man and the natural woman into consideration before making those laws?” He asked in his mind. “Could it be knowledge deficit or just copying wholesale without question?” He asked himself once more.
4. that because of the above section, no woman in Ghana could be said or accused of raping a man. Then Chief vehemently disagreed with this. “Do you know the number of times women have forcibly had sex with me against my wish?” He asked himself. “Is Ghana serious?” He asked.
5. that the policy reason or mischief the law on rape sought to cure was to prevent men, being the stronger sex partners, from perpetuating acts of aggression or violence against their female counterparts in a bid to have sexual gratification. That consent as contained in the Criminal Offences Act as amended, Act 29 of 1960, was a very important and serious concept that should never be overlooked during sex and
6. that in the course of sexual intercourse, if the woman said “stop “and you continued for even the next split of a second, the acts following thereafter sufficed for rape. “It was at this moment that my eye balls nearly bulged out”. Doctor lamented. “Could this be the genesis of my rape accusation?” He inquired further. He remembered, on the last round of their sexual spree, Naomi told him to stop because she was tired but he continued for just 30 seconds because at that moment he was about vomiting from his manly organ of a machine gun and had lost every natural control. “Could this be the rape?”

At this time Doctor remembered telling lawyers and judges in his presentation that when both men and women plateaued and there was no orgasm and resolution, it resulted in headaches, irritability, palpitations, among others. It would not be an easy experience. “What happens to that aspect of my inherent nature as a human being?” He asked. “So, for example, if Naomi’s reason was not tiredness, but was that she had unreasonably withdrawn her consent for a consideration, say money, could I sue her in a civil action for breach of an agreement, taking into consideration the fact that she did not allow me to go through all the phases of a complete sexual response cycle? An act she consented to from the beginning but willfully withdrew her consent without just cause! Or once the Law makers do not understand this concept in psychology, then its rubbish? All sorts of unanswered questions kept emanating from Doctor’s’ mind.

Out of anger, Doctor left the room. He didn’t want to listen to any further inconsiderate, non-reductionist, non-holistic, partial and biased legal exposition. “How then can many men be exonerated in rape accusations?” Doctor asked himself again. “Then all men in Ghana are living in servitude, perambulating in ignorance only in the name of being men”, he added.

“Much as I agree that women should be handled gently and with care, I think this law should be revoked with all alacrity and in its place a more holistic law enacted. A law that will take the mischief reason for which the law was enacted as against the natural and psychological constitution of a man and a woman into consideration”, Doctor lamented. “Let me teach them something”. Doctor fumed. “There is something in mental health we call predisposing and precipitating factors in the causation of mental illness. Predisposing factors could be your inherent biological constituents that make you liable to getting a mental illness such as depression or schizophrenia. You do not develop the mental illness or you may never develop the illness in your life time unless and until you are attacked by a precipitating factor. Precipitating factors are those social or environmental factors that trigger the occurrence of the illness. For example, smoking Indian hemp, sustaining head injury etc. As a result, even though, one has the propensity to develop mental illness because of his predisposition, he does not get it until he smokes ‘wee’, then ‘pa’! Pantang!

It is the same thing with this rape thing. Yes, men have the predisposition to want to have sex and attain gratification at all times. Reason most men engage in masturbation, etc. However, let’s get realistic. If my beautiful female neighbour, wearing a transparent sea blue nightie, knocks on my door at 12:00am to complain to me that she is unable to sleep, and she begins to perform a fellatio on me and eventually we are making love and suddenly she tells me to stop but I continue because I am about to discharge, then by law, I can be found guilty of rape irrespective of the circumstances?

It is obvious that she precipitated the whole show and should not go scot free otherwise this law is biased and hostile against the natural being of men”, Doctor lectured himself. At this moment, a car nearly knocked him down as he was crossing the road whilst talking to himself.

” Not as though I am condoning wrong doing by men or endorsing rape”, he continued, “but my humble cry is that a totality of the facts should be taken into account and if need be, punishment should be apportioned for the various roles played by participants culminating into the purported rape”. Doctor lamented.

“I suggest that there should be a defence of contributory rape in which the accused should be made to prove how complainant contributed to the purported rape process. For example, and in my case, I could prove the events leading to my accusation and if well proved, I should be set free or my sentence reduced drastically and the woman too punished for orchestrating this scheme of affairs. In this way, the law will be applied purposively to cure the mischief it seeks to deal with. This will go a long way to ensure that no woman will seduce a man or make herself so predisposing as to ignite fires that she was not ready to quench but harbours ill intentions that border on the freedom and liberty of the man. The present legal regime pertaining to rape in Ghana is highly unsatisfactory.

On the other hand, no man should try quenching fires that are burning outside his house. Do not be a busy body. It might just be a trap. In other words, until the law on rape in Ghana is amended to reflect reality, do not fall upon the least temptation of your sight. Disdain those attractions to protect your liberty. This is what the Judge himself will admonish you to do even though he himself could easily fall into the fangs of this law “. Doctor lamented and advised no body in particular.

JUDGMENT DAY
“It is one year now since I was first arrested and accused of rape. It has been a year of turbulence, agony and frustration. It is Judgment Day today and I am here in Court”. Doctor reflected.

The courtroom was full of fans and admirers of Chief (Doctor). Journalists from both the print and the electronic media were present. His two other friends and name sakes were present, filled with so much concern and apprehension.

For the whole of the year, Naomi had avoided any eye contact with Chief. She had sacrificed Chief’s freedom to achieve her intended wedding which took place six months ago, perhaps she was feeling guilty.

“I could see from the ugly eyes of her husband that he was satisfied with the rape charges proffered against me, at least as a compensation for his pains and jealousy over our amorous relationship. I looked solemnly at Naomi and remembered how it all started. How could I have known that this bliss and ecstasy was to end this bizarre”. He said:

“I am only 35years of age. I have never married before. I have always enjoyed my life with my two friends. We were all named Justice by our respective parents. People called Justice Beviel as Justice one, Justice Bediako as Justice Two, but everyone referred to me as Chief, perhaps because I was the oldest and most knowledgeable among the three of us. What is knowledge if all I parade now is despondency and hopelessness over my ambitions and life desires. My freedom stands on the line in the name of an inherited, inconsiderate and outdated law exposition which is non-conformist to present day exigencies, but a seemingly sanctimonious legality that is oblivious of any shadow of reality but ravaging to protect a certain minority who uphold highly my present predicament without just cause. Where is my justice even though my parents named me justice?” Chief never stopped reflecting on the current law and the evolving complexity of society in the 21^st century.

“The Judge finally delivers his judgment and it was that I had raped Naomi from the time she told me she was tired and I continued 30 seconds further. That I should have obeyed her command from that very second, she said she was tired irrespective of my natural physiological functioning which according to the judge, should be thrown to the dogs”. Doctor said to himself.

“I was thus sentenced to 25 years imprisonment IHL. That my punishment was meant to be a deterrence to others”. Chief announced.

As the police gripped me and pushed me towards their awaiting van, my two friends followed me closely. I heard a relation who just arrived at the court premises ask Naomi “Which of the Justices raped you? She replied, “CHIEF JUSTICE RAPED “ME.

LAWYER FIDEL LEVIEL
(0244522843),
[email protected]