Thiès Criminal Court: She accuses a construction worker of rape on a building site but does not want him convicted

A. Pouye, a 23-year-old bricklayer, appeared before the criminal court of the Thiès High Court on Tuesday, November 10, to answer charges of rape and abduction of a minor. He is accused of having had sexual relations on two occasions with Mada, a 16-year-old girl at the time of the alleged offenses, which occurred in November 2024.

In court, the defendant did not deny having sexual relations with the young girl. However, he maintained that the relations were consensual and that he was in a romantic relationship with her.

“That day, she came to the construction site. We were sitting and talking. At one point, she offered me a sexual relationship. That’s how we slept together,” explained A. Pouye.

A version categorically denied by the victim. According to Mada, the accused worked on a construction site across the street from her home. He also frequented their house, where her mother used to invite the construction workers for lunch. "Every lunchtime, my mother would invite all the construction workers to come and eat. But he was the only one who came," she said.

Recounting the events, the young girl explained that she was walking home from school when A. Pouye stopped her and asked her to go buy ice cream. Upon her return, he led her to a room in the building under construction before forcing her to have sex despite her resistance.

She claims to have experienced intense pain, to the point of feeling dizzy. In her second statement, however, she admitted to accepting the bricklayer's proposition. She also denied having a romantic relationship with the accused, stating that he had proposed marriage to her, an offer she declined. Notably, Mada stated that she did not want her alleged attacker convicted.

The victim's mother, for her part, recounted having caught the bricklayer and his daughter in what she considered a suspicious situation on the construction site. When questioned at the time, A. Pouye told her he wasn't doing anything with the teenager.

Worried, she then took her daughter to the hospital for a consultation. According to her testimony, the medical certificate she received indicated that her daughter's hymen had been broken. The mother stated that she had not been informed of her daughter's first sexual encounter. Believing that the defendant's actions had harmed her daughter, she is seeking 500,000 CFA francs in damages.

In his closing arguments, the public prosecutor concluded that the rape charges had been proven. He based his conclusion in particular on the defendant's statements, in which he admitted to the sexual relations, as well as on the medical certificate.

For the prosecution, the consent invoked for the second encounter cannot exonerate the accused from criminal responsibility, given the victim's minority at the time of the events. The prosecution also emphasized the young girl's statements regarding the first encounter, which she claims she endured despite her refusal.

Rejecting the defendant's arguments, the prosecutor considered that the constituent elements of the offenses were present before requesting 5 years of criminal imprisonment.

The defense, led by lawyers Faty and Mbodj, argued for acquittal. The lawyers highlighted the victim's statements, in which she admitted consenting to the second sexual encounter and expressed her opposition to their client's conviction.

According to them, no evidence substantiated the alleged violence or coercion. They therefore asked the criminal court to dismiss the charges against A. Pouye. Alternatively, they requested a lenient application of the law, with a suspended sentence, or his acquittal based on reasonable doubt.

The criminal chamber adjourned the case for deliberation until December 14, 2026.

​