General News of Wednesday, 30 January 2019

Source: ghananewsagency.org

ASA Savings and Loans compensates family of molested children

The company has compensated the family of the two children who were assaulted The company has compensated the family of the two children who were assaulted

ASA Savings and Loans has compensated the family of the two children molested by some workers of the Elmina branch of the company last year for defaulting in loan repayment, Child Right International (CRI) announced on Tuesday.

Mr Bright Appiah, the Executive Director of CRI announced the decision of the company at a media briefing in Accra explained that the Savings and Loans company compensated the family with GH¢50,000.00.

He said in May 2018, Child Right Institution received a complaint from an aggrieved father concerning the attitude of two staff of the Elmina ASA Savings and Loans staffs towards his children.

The aggrieved father, therefore, called on the Institute to demand justice for his children who were poorly treated by the staff.

He said according to the father of the two children, aged seven and five years, they were taken by the two staff from their home while watching television and paraded along the streets threatening to send them to the Police Station.

The terrified children according to their father, begun to cry and the younger one defecated on herself, yet the staff of the financial institution continued pulling them along until a good Samaritan paid off the balance of GH¢50.00 on behalf father for the children to be released and left alone to walk home.

He said, as an organisation committed to the promotion and protection of the inherent dignity of every child, it engaged the services of two lawyers on behalf the victims and filed the case at the Cape Coast High Court in July, last year.

The Executive Director of CRI said upon the request of the financial institution for an out-of-court settlement, both parties went into negotiation to settle the matter of which both parties agreed.

He said both the lawyers of the plaintiff and the defendant settled on GH¢50,000.00 as compensation for the family, especially the children.

Mr Appiah said in ensuring that the interests of the children were fully taken into consideration by the family, CRI signed an agreement with the father to invest 40 per cent of the amount into an investment package for the children to access when they turn 18.

He said the rest of the money would be for the parents to invest in business to support the upkeep of the children.

He warned that under no circumstance should the dignity of children be trampled upon to pursue any other interest adding that children’s rights are necessary to ensure care and attention to develop their fullest potential.