The case of a 13-year old girl who was defiled in November last year has still not been prosecuted because her parents cannot afford an amount of Gh¢ 300 demanded by a medical doctor at the Upper East Regional hospital, Bolgatanga, before he would conduct a medical examination on her.
Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Veronica Obese, second In-Command at the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Upper East Regional Police Command, told journalists in Bolgatanga the mother of the victim only reported the case at her office on February 2, 2017, four months after the incident took place at Namolgo, a farming community in the Talensi District.
According to the police officer, the mother of the victim (name withheld), reported to them she had seen a video clip in which her daughter was been defiled and upon interrogating her, she confessed and named the suspects. The suspects are two brothers.
ASP Obese said the matter was first reported at the Gbane police station leading to the arrest of one of the suspects. The arrested suspect (name withheld) was said to be a juvenile at the time of the incident. She said when the suspect was interrogated; he confessed to crime and revealed that it was his elder brother, Akwesi Zamnok (now on the run), who masterminded the crime.
He told the police he and his brother were riding in the evening and met the victim who had also been sent to the market square to buy some items. The victim whose friend is the girlfriend of Zamnok enquired from him the whereabouts of her friend. It was then Zamnok offered to give her a lift and send her to his girlfriend’s house. On their way, Zamnok stopped and ordered his brother and the victim to get down from the motorbike. When they did, he further ordered them to undress, lie on the ground and have sex. Both resisted but Zamnok allegedly gave them slaps until they could no longer withstand his slaps and obliged.
When they finally undressed and the innocent suspect mounted on the victim, Zamnok supervised and also filmed the act. In the video clip seen by TopNews Ghana which lasted for 2 minutes, 12 seconds, Zamnok, whose face is not shown on the video clip, is heard coaching his unskillful brother how to penetrate his victim while the teenage girl wails in excruciating pain and pleads for mercy but Zamnok would not have any mercy to let go the screaming teenager.
Rather, he continues to instigate his brother to bonk the girl who lays flat on her back in the bush and struggles to free herself but to no avail. Zamnok insists his brother continues until he reaches orgasm.
ASP Obese said when a police medical form was issued to the victim for a medical examination at the Upper East Regional Hospital in Bolgatanga, the doctor who was to examine the girl demanded an amount of Gh¢ 300 before he would examine her. Unfortunately, the parents of the victim could raise the said amount. She said not even interventions by the social welfare department of the hospital and the administrator could convince the doctor to examine the poor victim for free or for future settlement of the bill.
As a result, when the police presented the facts of the case at the court, the court could not proceed to look into the case because it needed a medical proof that indeed the victim was defiled. She also said the age of the boy who defiled the girl could not be established with evidence though the boy claimed he was 17 years old at the time of the incident and that also contributed to the court not been able to continue with the case.
According to ASP Obese, the docket of the case has since been forwarded to the office of the Attorney-General for advice while surveillance aimed at clamping down on Zamnok is underway.
By: topnewsghana.com/Ghana
