From April last year to August this year, a total of twenty-two (22) cases of defilement have been reported at the Dangme East District bureau of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVSU) of the Ghana Police Service.
Shockingly, every single one of the perpetrators of the dastard crime is walking broad-chested and breathing fresh air in the very community he committed the crime that attracts non-committed the crime that attracts non-commutable death sentence in many societies. The reason is one and simple: parents of the victims have failed to pursue the cases.
The Dangme East district chief executive, Rex Daniel Wussah, who made this disclosure, blamed the situation on ignorance. According got him; most women in the district are completely unaware of their rights and, therefore, are unable to pursue justice in such cases.
To remedy the situation, he suggested to the Women and Children�s Affairs Ministry and related groups to intensify awareness creation on domestic violence and educate women on their fundamental human and women rights.
Mr Wussah said this during a community forum on the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Act (Act 732) at Kasseh-Ada. He also appealed to women groups to consider assisting rural women engage in viable commercial activities, since, sometimes; women are tempted to accept monetary offers to cover up perpetrators of crimes especially rape and defilement.
The acting Greater Accra regional director of the National commission on Women and Development, Comfort Ablometi, reported a recent study as concluding that one out of every three Ghanaians has been physically abused by an intimate partner, most of the victims being women and girls. The same report says 90% of the culprits are men!
And that has contributed greatly to the perception held by most men that the domestic violence law favours women, she contended.
Ms. Ablometi, however, clarified that it is a law for all, adding that it is not only women who are in the domestic settings or relationships.Studies have shown that a successful end to domestic violence should be a collaborated effort between men and women at homes, workplaces, schools, churches and in the communities, she stress.
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