LEADER OF A GANG ARRESTED AT AGBOBLOSHIE (Metro Page)

12/03/2008

Story: Mary Mensah
The Old Fadama Police say they have arrested the leader of a gang which is engaged in performing illegal abortions for young ladies, especially porters, at Agbogbloshie in Accra.
It said the group assisted porters and other young women around Agbogbloshie to terminate unwanted pregnancies at fees ranging between GH¢30 and GH¢50 depending on the duration of the pregnancy .
The police identified the leader of the group as Diana Darko, and that a search had been mounted for her arrest as well as other accomplices who managed to escape.
According to the Public Affairs Officer of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU), Inspector Irene Oppong, one of the victims, Lamisi Akugule, became pregnant and decided to abort on January 31, 2007.
She said Lamisi consulted Diana whom she learnt had been assisting young women in the area to terminate their pregnancies.
The PRO said Diana charged the victim GH ¢40.00 but later accepted GH¢20.00 which Lamisi said was all she could afford.
She said Diana then gave Lamisi water and some tablets to swallow and asked her to lie down for sometime and the foetus was aborted.
Inspector Irene said after the abortion Lamisi pleaded with Diana to give her sometime to raise the GH¢20.00 but Diana was so annoyed that she locked Lamisi up in the a wooden structure and refused to release her to go.
She said on February 2, 2008, a policeman at the Old Fadama Police Station had the information that a young woman had been detained in a wooden structure by another woman who had refused to feed her for two days and that her condition was deteriorating.
The police proceeded to the house where they found the victim locked from behind in a wooden structure and the two, suspect and victim, were arrested and sent to the police station for questioning.
Upon interrogation, Diana narrated a different case to the police, so an extract of occurrence together with both accused persons were referred to DOVVSU for further investigations.
In their caution statements, both denied the offence but Lamisi who looked pale was sent to the Police Hospital in Accra where a medical report on her confirmed that she had had an incomplete abortion.
She was therefore sent to the theatre for the correction of the anomaly. After investigation both accused persons were charged with the offence and they are to appear before court.