Sexual advancement towards a married woman

A guy by name Andrew (last name intentionally withheld) was arrested yesterday by the police in Delta state, before he was arrested, he was first beaten by touts, tied to a tree and his clothes shredded into pieces and they left the guy almost naked. The worst of the worst of jungle justice melted on him before he was handed over to the police authorities.

No, he didn’t steal in the market place and no he wasn’t caught with human body parts for rituals  neither did he rape some minor as you may be thinking right now; his offense was that he made an arrangement for a sex date with a married woman who accepted to go on the date with him without him knowing that the woman has set him up. 

At the agreed location point of him picking up the woman, he was accosted by some youths that the woman had arranged with and the rest was hell for him yesterday. 

Netizens and interlopers are clamoring that the guy should be jailed, that the police should make sure he didn’t leave their custody until he is charged to court and jailed for having the effrontery to make sexual advances toward a married woman. 

Unfortunately, those clamoring that the guy should be jailed for what some of them called “trying to sleep with a married woman” are really ignorant of what the Nigerian law says in this regard: Adultery is not an offense under the Nigerian criminal justice system which Delta state as a jurisdiction falls under, neither is making sexual advances toward a married woman a crime. He can only be jailed if he was caught having a “forceful” carnal knowledge of the woman or sexual harassing the woman physically; but that is not the case, he only arranged a sex date with the woman. 

For the guy to have been beaten, tied to a tree with ropes and his clothes shredded amounts to unwarranted jungle justice and the guy has a right of legal action against the youths who attacked him and also against the police who arrested him afterwards. 

While I’m not here to talk about the morality or otherwise of making sexual advances toward a married woman rather I’m here as a lawyer to discuss it’s legality or otherwise, but for what its worth, making sexually advances toward not just a married woman but to someone who is not sexually interested in you on who is clearly not into you is morally  bad and In in some cases illegal and you could be sued for sexual harassment but this is not the case here. 

According to the press report, the guy and the lady were friends on Facebook and he decided to spice things up by arranging a sex date with the lady who is married, the lady in turn set the guy up to be beaten. 

For the guy to be subjected to such inhuman and degrading treatment of not just been beaten and tied up and also his pictures circulated in the internet space and all round mental and psychological torture and trauma, he (paradoxically) have a right of action against his maltreaters because he didn’t break any law neither did he commit any crime by setting up a sex date with a lady who is married and let’s assume he broke some laws (which he didn’t) jungle justices are illegal and have been highly condemned in all cases by the court and those found melting out jungle justice have been punished even with jail term by the court in numerous occasions.

Let’s not forget that justice is a three way street, it’s tripartite; justice for the victim, justice for the accused and justice for the society and justice won’t be said to have been done or manifestly be seen to be done if any of the three parties here suffers any form of hardship.