Family of defiled teenage girl cries for justice as threat of death intensifies

Counsel for the family of 15-year-old rape victim who is a Yemeni national but lives in Ghana, have intensified calls to have the suspect brought to book.

Lead counsel Justice Abdulai speaking to Rainbowradioonline.com expressed disappointment in the way the police have handled the case.

The private legal practitioner told the website the suspect who was granted bail but jumped has since not returned to the jurisdiction for more than one year.

The victim was allegedly defiled at the age of 14 by her ‘grandfather’, aged 60, whom she lived with, in Ghana at the time of the incident.

He further disclosed that the family have been threatened with harm and death because of their resolve to find justice for their daughter.

He recounted how some family members and Mr. Hassan Zein, the man who was appointed as intermediary by the Chief Imam Sheikh Nuhu Shaributu to find justice for the victim have been smeared with false accusation and threats of death.

”The suspect and his assigns have started threatening Hassan Zain with death. They keep smearing him with unfounded allegations and claims because he has been appointed to help find justice for the family,” he added.

Lawyer Abdulai further added that despite the instruction by the Attorney-General to the police to furnish her with details on the matter, they have failed all because they connived with the family of the suspect to have him escape from the shores of Ghana.

He since hinted of plans to petition the Attorney-General’s office to have the matter revisited.

Narrating the recent ordeal suffered by Hassan Zein, the lawyer stated that a negative petition was written against him and same was circulated and distributed to various government institutions and agencies led to a media report that Mr. Zein had been arrested and detained by the police.

This he insisted was false, and a figment of the imagination of the those who orchestrated it.

According to him, his client he said has no criminal record because he is a law-abiding businessman.

He said the allegations made in the said petition were borne out of ill-informed uninformed and or misinformation regarding the person of Hassan Zein.

”My client has committed no offence. He is nowhere connected to the case. He was only asked to act as an intermediary to ensure the victim’s family gets justice. However, he has suffered several attacks by the suspect’s family.”

He said the suspect is having multiple passports with multiple names and ages.

Background

The alleged suspect was a long distant relative who was considered a ‘grandfather’ to the girl and used to often pick her up to school and back home when she closes.

It was on the back of this that he picked her up in the guise of taking her to school and defiled her at a yet-to-be-known location.

The matter was reported to the Kwabenya Police Station who then forwarded to the Madina Police Station for lack of capacity to deal with the matter.

The family claim that the Madina Police Station after arresting the suspect made him go on bail with his wife as the only surety making them believe there were some underhand dealings prior to his release.