2.3. CRIMINAL LAW (CODIFICATION AND REFORM) ACT [CHAPTER 9:23] The Act criminalises sexual offences and defines what conduct constitutes an offence. It is important to set out in detail exactly what the law provides in terms of sexual offences and in particular rape so that everyone involved understands what constitutes rape and other sexual offences. The Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act [Chapter 9:23], “the Act” defines rape as; 65 (1) If a male person knowingly has sexual intercourse or anal intercourse with a female person and at the time of the intercourse(a) the female person has not consented to it; and (b) he knows that she has not consented to it or realises that there is a real risk or possibility that she may not have consented to it; He shall be guilty of rape and liable to imprisonment for life or any shorter period. The important element is lack of consent to the sexual act. When it comes to sexual acts, children below the age of 16 years are deemed incapable of consenting to sexual acts and therefore an adult male cannot plead consent by the child as a defence to a charge of rape. In sentencing an accused person who has been convicted of rape, the law states that some of the factors to be taken into account as being aggravating include; the age of the person raped, the degree of force or violence used in the rape, the injuries inflicted on the victim among others.1 Section 69 explains some of the circumstances which the court may take into account in determining whether there was consent to the sexual conduct complained of and these factors include; where the accused person uses violence or threats of violence, intimidation or other unlawful pressure to induce the victim to submit.1 In most cases of sexual violence, children are often threatened into submitting and after the rape, are threatened into not reporting the rape or sexual abuse and this makes detection of child sexual abuse difficult. 8 4