General News of Monday, 12 November 2018
Source: Starrfmonline.com
2018-11-12
The solider has been relieved of his post (File photo)
The unnamed soldier accused by a 16-year-old girl of defiling her at Bimbilla in the Northern Region has been interdicted by the military high command in Tamale.
The officer has been removed from post and now in the hands of his superiors who are to question him before handing him over to police for further probe and prosecution.
The Nanumba North Municipal Chief Executive, Abdulai Yaqoob confirmed the arrest to Starr News in an exclusive interview.
On last Monday, October 04, 2018, the soldier who is part a military reinforcement overseeing the curfew in Bimbilla, was accused of forcibly having sex with the girl at her school.
The girl is a Form Two student of Poona Junior High School who claimed she was sexually abused by the soldier who sneaked into to school while she and her colleagues were having preps.
She told her parents the incident occurred at about 9pm, adding that, the soldier dragged her to a nearby school, Jilo JHS, and had a 5mins unprotective sex with her. She is now suffering from severe genital pain and recuperating at home after doctors examined her.
Police invited the victim and her parents and they are said to be cooperating in the ongoing investigations after doctors forwarded the medical report, which allegedly confirms the accusation to them.
“The case was reported by the victim to the police in Bimbila. They have taken the statements of the girl and other witnesses and the medical report has also been made available and the docket is prepared and while he is a serving military officer, they have to refer the matter to the regional military command for further investigation, for them to release him to the Ghana police service to face the law”, the MCE revealed.
It is not clear which of the two commands has detained the accused the soldier as multiple requests to the centre command for comment haven’t been answered.
The MCE said, though the alleged victim defied the curfew when she and her colleagues were still found outside beyond 6pm, he would still support the ongoing investigation to ensure justice is served.
“We have an order that the Junior High Schools should not go for preps during curfew hours, is only the Senior High. It was a directive given by the Municipal Security Committee, so I don’t know why the defied the orders and they were there, probably if they were not there this thing wouldn’t have happened”.
According to the Municipal Chief Executive, he has recommended to the Regional Security Council to review the curfew hours in Bimbilla. He said the request has been received by the Interior Ministry and a decision likely to be in few weeks. There have been curfew in the small town since 2014 when the chief was assassinated after chieftaincy violence broke out.
Recently, residents have threatened to demonstrate against the continued curfew, which they said was affecting economic activities. Though this is the first time a mission soldier has been accused of sexual misconduct, the residents are intensifying their call for the military to withdraw from the area.
“The curfew is being looked at and probably in the very shortest possible time, it could be reviewed; because we have recommended to the Regional Security Council for the curfew to shifted, probably from 8pm to 5am”.