DRC Prosecutors seek 20-year jail term for MP Adolphe Onusumba for statutory rape

PHOTO: Dr. Adolphe Onusumba in 2002 while still RCD warlord. He is

currently the chair of the political party "Union des Congolais pour

le Progrès" (UPC), affiliated with the pro-Kabila plank called

"Majorité Présidentielle" (MP).



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Legal woes of MP Adolphe Onusumba, accused of statutory rape on his

ward Ms. Mireille Owale, worsened Thursday, September 27, at the

Supreme Court of Justice.



MP Onusumba was first stripped of his parliamentary immunity and then

remanded in custody to Kinshasa infamous correctional facility of

Makala Prison.



Then on Thursday, in summing up the prosecution case, the Prosecutor

of the Republic sought a 20-year jail term, assorted with a $108 fine,

for MP Onusumba.



Ms. Mireille Owale's mother first claimed that her daughter was born

in 1995, but when pressed on the subject in cross-examination by the

defense, she changed the year of birth to 1993.



But that as it might, the prosecutor is now focused on the year 2007,

when MP Onusumba is alleged to have first raped Ms. Owale when she was

still either way a minor.



The prosecutor has dismissed altogether the disculpatory evidence of

the copy of the supposed voter's registration card of Ms. Owale

introduced by the defendant, claiming it was "fraudulently obtained."



The prosecutor was basing this dismissal on the finding of the

investigation at the electoral commission by detectives of the General

Prosecutor of the Republic's office.



The defense strategy remains unchanged: the defendant is pleading not

guilty to the charge of staturory rape as, according to MP Onusumba's

lawyers, the sexual relations only happened this year and were

initiated by the victim.



MP Onusumba told the court:



"It was I who was sexually harassed by Mireille."



The defense was set to present its closing arguments this Friday, September 28.



(With radiookapi.net & Kinshasa media)



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PHOTO CREDITS: Via: bbc.com.uk