BY: Tabitha Kugbonu I Voltaonlinegh.com |
The Suhum Circuit Court in the Eastern Region has sentenced Daniel Kwasi Owusu, a farmer in Anum Apapam to 15years imprisonment for sexually abusing a 12year old girl and later trafficked her.
The mother of the victim (name withheld) disclosed that she suspected that such act had been going on between her daughter and the husband who happens to be the father of the victim for sometimes now until 26th December, 2020 when she walked on them in the act.
The mother of the victim added that it was suspected that the father warned the daughter never to mention such grave abuse to anyone including her the mother.
The father having been exposed quickly trafficked the daughter from Anum Apapam to Osino, a small community in the Eastern Region but mother upon her engagement with End Modern Slavery (EMS), received assistance to report the case to the appropriate authorities which later got the suspect arrested and handed over to the Police at Anum Apapam who in turn handed the suspect to Domestic Violence Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service at the Suhum District Command for further investigations.
The victim was medically screened at Suhum Government Hospital sponsored by Engage Now Africa and was later discharged while the suspect was charged by Suhum DOVVSU and arraigned before the Suhum Circuit Court.
Reports from End Modern Slavery (EMS) of Engage Now Africa (ENA) further indicated that on 11th January, 2021, during court hearing, the suspect admitted having abuse the victim sexually and he was therefore sentenced to 15years imprisonment with hard labour.
The Director of Operations at End Modern Slavery, Mr. Afasi Komla, took the opportunity to meet with the family of the accused person and some community members at Anum Apapam to commend them for their efforts to make sure justice is served.
EMS noted that such habits are bad and affect the development of the Girl-Child and therefore the need to continue to expose cases of such nature.
EMS again provided the wife of the accused person with a livelihood package to enable her cater for the four children she has.
Addressing Journalists, Mr. Afasi stated that modern slavery is a severe exploitation of other people for personal or commercial gains and usually, it is the vulnerable that suffers such heinous acts and because we are often just out of sight, we don’t know that modern slavery is all around us.
He encouraged the general public to put all hands on deck in the fight against modern slavery in the country.
End Modern Slavery (EMS) of Engage Now Africa (ENA) is an organization championing the end to modern slavery in Africa.
Source: www.voltaonlinegh.com
