Cop abandons teenager he defiled, Impregnated

Mawunyegah Quarshie, the father of the 12-year-old girl allegedly defiled by a police officer, has reported that the police administration is trying to ‘kill’ the case.

According to Mr. Quarshie, the police service was dragging its feet over the case nearly three months after the abuse of the poor girl was reported to the police administration.

“They keep telling us that the docket has been sent to the A-G’s department for advice but nothing is being done about it. And my lawyer has told me that they are trying to frustrate us so we can forget about the case,” he cried.

The innocent girl who got impregnated and forcibly dropped out of school as a result, gave birth to a male child on September 18, 2015 at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Mr. Quarshie told DAILY GUIDE on Monday in Accra.

He stated that Lance Corporal Bartels who had stayed in his (Quarshie’s) house at Lapaz New Market together with the victim who will be 13years on October 25, 2015, has since vacated the residence and walking a free-man after he was only reportedly detained for 24 hours at the Ministry Police Station when the incidence was first reported.

The victim, a JHS 1 pupil of the St. Joseph Catholic School reported in the month of July 2015 that Lance Corporal Emmanuel Bartels defiled her three times in the absence of her parents resulting in her pregnancy.

According to the victim, the police officer attached to the National Protection Unit at the Police headquarters but stationed at the 37 Mobile Post was responsible for her pregnancy, meaning the child she has given birth to belongs to the suspect.

The victim speaking to the DAILY GUIDE on July 23, 2015, stated that after getting pregnant, she could not tell her parents until her father, who became suspicious due to some changes in her body, queried her.

Meanwhile, her father at the time told DAILY GUIDE that after his daughter had confessed that Lance Corporal Bartels had defiled her, he immediately reported the matter to the ministries branch of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service for investigation and necessary action.

Giving the genesis of the story, Mr Quarshie narrated that Lance Corporal Bartels was a tenant in his house for two years.

“While living in my house, he was very close to my daughter; he often sent her on errands anytime his wife was not available.”

The aggrieved father said he, at a time, noticed some changes in his daughter and became suspicious.

“I became suspicious when my daughter, who often asks for money to buy sanitary pads, was no longer coming for money to buy them and I queried her,” Mr Quarshie said.

“After the report was lodged to the police, I followed up with a doctor’s report on April 27, 2015,” he added.

Later on when police invited Lance Corporal Bartels for questioning, he denied the allegation.

Police report revealed that DOVVSU asked the victim to undergo age assessment test because she looked older than her age.

After the test, DOVVSU claimed the girl might be 17 years old.

But Mr Quarshie told DAILY GUIDE that he had since produced certificates issued him and his wife by the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital at the time the victim was born at the facility in 2002 to support his claim that his daughter was 12.

However, he alleged that because Lance Corporal Bartels was once attached to the residence of the Minister of Communications, Edward Omane Boamah, the police had bribed a certain medical doctor at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital to alter the girl’s age, describing the situation as a rape of the justice system.