(MAJOR COURT CONFIRMATION

SUDAN GOVERNMENT V. AWAD HASSAN MOHAMED OMER

 AC-CP. 217, 1964

Principles

·  Criminal law-Abducting woman to compel her to illicit intercourse-Penal Code s, 307- Sufficient to convict if woman moved from one place to another without illicit intercourse Ccriminal law-Act causing slight harm-penal Code, s, 54. does not apply under penal Code s. 307. Accused admitted that he took a women to a pimp house, but she refused to go in. he was convicted under Penal Code, s,  307

Held: (i) Conviction under Penal Code, s,  307 is confirmed, because it is sufficient to convict a person under this section if he moves a woman from one place to another, even if illicit intercourse is not completed or attempeted.
(ii) Penal Code, s,  54. does not apply in case of abducting a woman for illicit intercourse under  Penal Code, s,  3017.

Judgment

Advocate: Siddik Abdel Halim…………………..for accused

: M. A. Abu Rannat C.J. May 24.1964:- The accused was charged and convicted under Penal Code, s,  307, for abducting a woman in order that she may be seduced to illicit intercourse with him. Accused admits that he he carried the woman Um el Hussein in his taxi cab at about 10 a.m. and went with her to the house of a pimp and there he asked her to go in but she refused.

This section is very wide. It is sufficient to convict a person if he moves a woman from one place to another, even if the illicit intercourse is not attempted or completed. I therefore confirm the finding of guilty under Penal Code, s,  307 .

The sentence: the sentence is out of proportion. As professor Gledhill stated in his commentary; Gledhill, The Penal Codes of Northern Nigeria and the Sudan (1963) p. 105, that in certain cases where accused would prima facie guilty of abduction, Sudan Penal Code, s. 54 (de minimis non curat lex), might be a good defence. Of course this can only apply if very slight injury took place. In this case section 54 does not apply  but the sentence should be considerably reduced for the following reasons:

(1)   the complainant was a loose woman. There is reliable evidence to this effect.

(2)   No satisfactory proof was established that she is married.

(3)   The accused  thought she was willing.
 

(4)   The accused took her back to the place  from which he had taken her as soon as she asked him to do so.

(5)   She applied for the offence to be compounded.

In my view four months in prison is quite adequate.