Girl, 8, Beaten To Death

Story: Mary Mensah

A 50-YEAR-OLD kenkey seller, who could not bear the agony of losing her G¢10 (¢100,000), has visited her anguish on her eight-year-old ward, leading to her death.
The suspect, Hagar Sakah, alias Adorkor, a resident of Soko, a suburb of Lartebiokorshie in Accra, allegedly used a piece of firewood to hit the head of Sarah Darkey, the deceased, and refused to send her to the hospital for medical attention, when she started bleeding from her wounds.
The girl was said to have been sent by Hagar on October 20, 2007 to buy cooking oil to fry fish for the next day’s business.
Sarah was said to have returned after sometime without the oil and told Hagar that she had lost the money on the way.
According to the Accra Regional Crime Officer, Chief Superintendent Boi-Bi-Boi, this infuriated Hagar so much that she picked a piece of firewood and started beating Sarah.
Sarah’s screams attracted some people to the scene, who pleaded with Hagar, but she persisted in beating Sarah till she fell and started bleeding.
Mr Boi-Bi-Boi said Sarah was left unattended to for five hours after which she collapsed and neighbours called Hagar to send her to hospital.
He said she first took her to the Mamprobi Polyclinic where she was referred to the Korle-bu Teaching Hospital for further treatment but she was pronounced dead on arrival.
He said at the hospital, Hagar lied to the medical personnel that Sarah’s injuries were the result of a fall into a gutter.
The crime officer said the doctor then advised her to go to the Korle-Bu Police Station and report the incident before the body would be sent to the mortuary.
He said Hagar went to the police and told a different story that she returned from town and found the girl with bruises all over her body.
She told the police that she was only a guardian to the girl and that she had to go and inform Sarah’s parents about the incident so she was asked to go and return the next day but she bolted.
She was later arrested at Quarshie, a village near Kade in the Eastern Region, upon a tip-off.
The suspect was today arraigned before the City Engineers Court, presided over by Mr Alex Okraku, remanded to appear again on January 10, 2008.