Increase in rape, defilement cases

Saturday, January 31, 2009 (The Mirror Pg 28)

By Rebecca Kwei
Statistics available at the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Greater Accra Region indicate that there was an increase in reported cases of defilement from 449 in 2007 to 552 in 2008.
Rape cases reported also showed an increase of 161 in 2008 as against 151 in 2007, while there were 59 cases of indecent assault in 2008 as compared to 52 in 2007.
In 2007 the number of reported cases of incest was four but increased to 15 in 2008. However, assault cases decreased from 2172 in 2007 to 2122 in 2002
Speaking to The Mirror on the possible reasons why defilement cases have increased, the Public Relations Officer of DOVVSU, Accra, Chief Inspector Irene Oppong, attributed it to lack of effective communication between parents and their children.
She explained that suspects had a way of luring their victims such as sending them and giving them money or gifts before they defile them.
Chief Inspector Oppong said in cases where children had already been defiled, because there was no communication, the victims were unable to tell their parents or guardians and they (parents/guardians) were also not able to detect the abuse early.
She encouraged parents to educate their children on sex and sexual abuse and what they should look out for in order to identify possible predators.
According to her, it was important for parents to be cautious of people who took care of their children because it was the same people who turned around to abuse children.
“About 90 per cent of child abusers are not strangers or aliens to the victim but people they know,” she stressed.
On assault, she noted that some traditional and cultural practices played a major part in why people saw nothing wrong with it.
For instance, when a parent assaults a child, he or she says “the child is my property and so I can do whatever I want”.
She said most parents saw assault or abuse as a way of correcting their children.
With married couples, she said most people believed a man must ‘discipline’ his spouse when she went wrong hence most men did not see anything wrong with assaulting their spouse.
Chief Inspector Oppong said more people were reporting cases of domestic violence because of DOVVSU’s outreach programmes, which had educated them to know that domestic violence was a crime.
She advised couples to use dialogue in resolving issues rather than resorting to violence, adding that they may also contact DOVVSU, which would take them through their marriage crisis management programme, where they use mediation and counselling sessions to mend broken families.
Statistics of other cases reported at the unit are: Abduction 146 in 2008 as compared to 123 in 2007; child labour three in 2008 and 2007; child trafficking 10 and one in 2008 and 2007 respectively.
There were also 19 reported cases of criminal abortion in 2008 and 24 in 2007; exposing child to harm, 87 in 2008 and 123 in 2007. For compulsion of marriage two cases were reported in 2007 and three in 2008. Under the section of failing to supply basic necessities of health and life, 111 were reported in 2008 as compared to 116 in 2007.