Rape victims in Ashanti prefer compensation to imprisonment

Kumasi, April 19, GNA - Most victims of rape in the Ashanti Region prefer compensation from the law courts and tribunals to custodial sentence on offenders.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Comfort Boateng, Head of the Women and Juvenile Unit (WAJU) of the Ghana Police Service in Ashanti, explained that the victims feel cheated and dehumanised and prefer compensation as a form of pacification for the abuse of their rights and dignity.

She was speaking on "Domestic violence: - The law and its preventive measures", at a seminar organised by the Ashanti Chapter of the Ghana Committee on Human and Peoples' Rights in Kumasi, on Tuesday.

About 60 participants from Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo and Upper East regions attended the seminar, which was under the theme: "Domestic violence is an abuse of fundamental human rights".

ASP Boateng noted that most women were ignorant of the laws and regulations protecting them, as well as their rights as enshrined in the constitution and, therefore, they fail or refuse to report atrocities meted out to them for redress.

Those who report such cases also at times, refuse to follow up when they are "seen" at home by the perpetrators of the crime, she said, adding that this hamper prompt investigations of such cases.

"Some go to the extent of seeing medical officers for unsupported medical reports." ASP Boateng said because of societal attitude and the prestige attached to marriage, some victims of violence would not like to expose such acts against them and even refuse to attend court in order not to lose their marriage.

ASP Boateng said since the establishment of WAJU in the region in July last year, about 135 cases on violence against women and children, have been recorded and sent to the courts for prosecution.

Eighty cases of defilement, seven cases of indecent assault, six cases of attempted rape and other minor offences were received and recorded. She said most of them have been dealt with and offenders sentenced to prison terms, others are pending before the courts while investigations into some of them continue.

Mrs Doris Dabanka Bekoe, a State Attorney, spoke On: "Domestic violence against women as an impediment to socio-economic development". She said the government and women groups should expose domestic violence through surveys and documentation to create much awareness about the problem and its effect on the socio-economic development of the country as regards the role of women in society.

She called for a review of the legal framework, which gives room for violence by men such an unequal inheritance and discriminatory family laws because without such review, domestic violence against women will continue to be an obstacle to the socio-economic development of women.

Mrs Rose Owusu Yeboah, vice-chairperson of the committee in Ashanti, welcoming the participants, said any country that respects and protects the rights of its citizens creates an enabling environment that sends the right signal to investors to be part of its development efforts.

She said it should, therefore, be the collective efforts of every Ghanaian to pursue this noble idea and objective to ensure a more humane society where the individual's rights are acknowledged and respected.