The Suhum Circuit Court in the Eastern Region has sentenced Daniel Kwasi Owusu, a farmer in Anum Apapam to 15 years imprisonment for sexually abusing his 12 -year-old daughther and later trafficked her.
Mother of the girl name (withheld) disclosed to End Modern Slavery (EMS) of Engage Now Africa (ENA), an organization championing the end to modern slavery in Africa, that she suspected that such act had been ongoing between her daughter and the husband, the father of the victim, for some time now, until 26th December 2020 when she caught 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 reportedly quickly trafficked the daughter from Anum Apapam to Osino, a small community in the Eastern Region.
The 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.
The Anum Apapam police subsequently handed the suspect to the Domestic Violence Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service at the Suhum District Command for further investigations.
He was thus arraigned before the Suhum Circuit Court.
The victim was medically screened at the Suhum Government Hospital sponsored by Engage Now Africa (ENA).
After cross-examination, she was then discharged.
Reports from End Modern Slavery (EMS) of Engage Now Africa (ENA) further indicated that on 11th January 2021, during the court hearing, the suspect admitted having abused the victim sexually, and he was therefore sentenced to 15 years imprisonment with hard labour.
End Modern Slavery lead by Mr. Afasi Komla, Director of Operations took the opportunity to meet with the family of the accused person and some community members at Anum Apapam and commended them for their efforts to make sure justice is served.
EMS advised that such habits are bad and affect the development of the girl-child and there is 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 after the perpetrator was apprehended to face the law, Afasi Komla stated that modern-day 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.
