General News of Monday, 16 April 2018
Source: citinewsroom.com
2018-04-16
File photo: The 17-year-old was allegedly raped when she went for wake-keeping
Medical officers at the Afari Community Hospital in the Atwima Nwabiagya District of the Ashanti Region have referred the 17-year-old final year student of the BeneAfan International Junior High School, who was allegedly gang-raped by five young men at Nerebehi, to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.
This is to enable doctors at the hospital treat and conduct further checks on the victim.
The teenager, who is preparing to sit for this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination [BECE], has already missed some papers in the District Mock exams, conducted by the Ghana Education Service.
Meanwhile, three suspects who were earlier remanded by the Akropong Magistrate Court are expected to re-appear on April 18, 2018.
The victim complained of abdominal and vaginal pains as well as a severe headache after she was overpowered by the five young boys and sexually assaulted.
She told Citi News the incident has affected her psychologically, physically and academically.
“I feel pains in my abdomen and my vagina. I have severe headaches too and I feel so weak since the incident happen. I want the Police to deal with the perpetrators because they have really hurt me. Even the District Mock exams that are mandatory for candidates preparing for the BECE across the country, I have not been able to write because of what they have done to me,” she said.
The victim wants the police to bring the perpetrators to book.
Mother of the victim, (Name withheld), wants the suspects prosecuted after the parents of the suspects had the guts to attack them for reporting the matter to the police.
“When I saw the suspects in court, I felt sad for them. I would have asked for mercy for them, but after they raped my daughter, they came to our house with their relatives and rained insults on us for the reporting the matter to the police. They even damaged the glass window of my brother’s room. So my husband came back and felt our lives were not safe. So I want the law to take its course”, she said.
Similar case in Kumasi in 2017
In 2017, a similar case was reported in Kumasi, in a case involving the alleged gang-rape of a minor by four teenagers.
The boys captured the act on video and circulated it on social media.
The teenagers, who are facing trial by a Juvenile Court, are yet to be punished as the case continues.
At the last sitting in February, a Kumasi court subpoenaed two witnesses to appear before it.
The two, the Unit Committee Chairman for Bantama Kwabena Boateng, and Yaw Amankwaa, the tenant in whose house the dastardly act was committed had all declined to willingly appear to testify.
Even the victim, according to reports, has also refused to cooperate with the prosecutors.