1,578 CHILDREN DEFILED LAST YEAR (Page 50)

13/03/2008

By Mary Mensah
One thousand five hundred and seventy eight children between the ages of three and 15 were defiled throughout the country from January to December 2007.
This forms part of 17,315 criminal cases recorded by the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service for the period.
The cases involved rape, defilement, sodomy, child trafficking, non-maintenance, bigamy, murder, assault, threatening, stealing and kidnapping, among others.
The Accra region topped the list with 5,193 cases, followed by the Ashanti region with 2, 844 cases, the Central and Tema regions with 1, 866 and 1, 833 cases respectively.
The three northern regions recorded the lowest cases, Upper West, 184, Upper East, 240, and Tamale 285 cases.
The Public Affairs Officer in charge of the DOVVSU, Inspector Irene Oppong, who disclosed this to The Mirror in Accra said 1,091 of the cases were sent to court and only 93 had so far been convicted while 54 have been acquitted.
She said 13, 679 of the cases were still under investigation and 944 were awaiting trial while 2,015 cases had either been closed or settled out of court.
Inspector Oppong said following the increasing number of defilement cases the DOVVSU had began a nation-wide outreach programme in schools, lorry stations, churches and other social gatherings to sensitise people to the dangers of rape and domestic violence and the psychological effect it had on victims.
She said as part of the measures some teachers had been selected from the schools so far visited to frequently counsel the children to give them security tips, and advise them to confidently report any cases of abuse.
She said defilement was on the increase because parents tended to entrust the care of their children to tenants, relatives, family,friends or strangers.
Inspector Oppong said in Accra it was realised that the majority of the cases were reported from Chorkor, Mamprobi and Dansoman areas so the outreach had been intensified in those areas.
She indicated that non-maintenance topped the list with 6,297 cases, followed by assault with 4,709 cases and 1,142 cases of threats.