Compassion International upset with verdict on defilement

A child development and advocacy organization has expressed displeasure at the verdict of a defilement case in which a self-confessed defiler was freed.

Compassion International, Ghana, expressed the displeasure at the verdict of a defilement case by the Tarkwa Circuit Court, which freed the self-confessed defiler due to a year’s difference given by her mother and that also appears on her National Health Insurance card.

The accused Francis Adu, 39, who had confessed to defiling and impregnating the minor, was acquitted and discharged by Justice Nana Kwame Ohene Essel based on lack of evidence by the police and the girl’s mother to prove her correct age.

According to a GNA report which was published on the front page of the August 30, 2014 edition of the Ghanaian Times, while the police and the girl’s mother said that she was 13 years, her National Health Insurance card indicated she was 12 years at the time, resulting in the eventful verdict.

Mr. Padmore Baffour Agyapong, Country Director of Compassion International, Ghana, at a press conference on Thursday, said for a court to base its decision to free a self-confessed defiler on the conflicting age of the victim was odd and raised more questions than answers.

“We are asking these questions because we shudder at the sheer number of children that are being defiled daily while those who should take action to protect children nod in approval."

He said the Daily Graphic in its July 15, 2014 edition, also published a report in which the Child Protection Unit of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital was quoted to have recorded 42 life-threatening cases of child abuses over the past six months, with the youngest being a four-month old girl.

That same report indicated that over the period under review, the Unit recorded a total of 180 child abuse cases, comprising of 40 boys who had been sodomised, and 140 girls who had been defiled, which he said “confirms the worrying trends of child abuse and child neglect, as the verdict from the Circuit Court has done”.

He said the number of defilement cases reported daily in the media calls for urgent attention, and appealed to the Chief Justice, Her Ladyship Justice Georgina Theodora Wood, to cause an investigation into the case for the sake of justice and for child protection.

He also appealed to the Speaker of Parliament and the Parliamentary Select Committee on Children and Social Protection, as well as the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection and the Attorney-General to take special interest in this case and ensure that justice was properly served.

Mr. Agyepong said unless the reportage was inaccurate, the verdict raises serious concerns about the justice system in the country for children.

He argued that the Constitution of Ghana clearly defines who a minor is, and therefore there was no argument about that since the girl in question was below 18 years. Mr. Agyepong said “looking critically at the case under review, we are at a loss why there should be any argument over the girl’s age, let alone basing the final judgment on the conflicting age.

“Whether she is 12 or 13 years, the girl is a minor, and under our Criminal Code having carnal knowledge of a child below the age of 16 is a criminal offence,” he said.

He said conscious of the legal definition of a child, the Organisation has decided to commit its resources and join hands with other child right advocates to seek justice for the girl and her mother, and also for the numerous children who are confronted with similar fate each day.