West Gonja Hospital rape case: Media reports skewed in favour of Italian – Administrator

The Administrator of the West Gonja Hospital in Damongo in the Northern Region, Remy Nyewie has expressed worry over what he describes as skewed media reports on the alleged rape of an Italian lady on admission at the hospital.

According to him, the one-sided report was damaging the image of the accused and the integrity of the hospital prematurely.

He made these comments in a one-on-one interview with a Damongo based local radio station, PAD FM.

"We are surprised that investigation is not complete, and the accused has not given his statement yet. So it is premature to give information to the media. The police are already damaging the image of the accused and the integrity of the hospital. We think it is unfair reporting the issue to the media in a skewed way," he noted.

Mr Nyewie also pointed out that it was unfair to disclose the name of the accused and not that of the victim, querying “is it because she is a white lady?”

He added that the hospital is looking out for the truth and as such if a court of competent jurisdiction establishes that their staff was guilty, they won’t have a problem with that.

He was however worried over how the psychological damage can be repaired if it turns out that the accused is innocent, indicating that from their findings, they trust they have a good case.

Even though, he declined to give details, he disclosed that the lady came to the hospital at 12:00midnight on Friday and not Thursday as reported.

The victim, he said, complained of having diarrhoea and vomiting and the staff on duty that day took the risk to go round for infusions from other patients for the white lady because she had no money on her adding that she was yet to settle the bills for the infusions administered to her.

He further stated that even though, the victim is still on admission at the hospital, her folder was taken away and photocopied by one Dr. Martin, a white man who claimed to be a physician, on the blindside of the hospital.

The accused is to write his statement today in the presence of his lawyer, Emelio Musah and then be processed for court today for hearing on the case to begin.

Meanwhile, Justice Badam Parmaak, the District P.R.O of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) indicated in a statement that the white lady has not been consistent in her argument.

He said, at a point, she indicated the ward was warm so she decided to remove her clothing leaving her pant and the suspect came in and started removing her panties but in her statement at Tamale, she wrote that she was feeling cold since the ward had an air condition and she had asked the accused to cover her with a blanked which he ended up having sex with her.

According to him, the victim always relied on the accused anytime she needed assistance until 8:30am when he handed over.

The accused was arrested following reports made by the Italian Embassy to the police headquarters in Accra last week.

Initial demands by the West Gonja District Hospital to screen the lady by way of internal investigation was declined by the police.

The outcome of a vagina examination conducted on the victim at the Tamale Teaching Hospital to prove whether the accused penetrated her is yet to be known.

The police have however picked the bedsheet on which the act was purported to have occurred as an exhibit.

The accused is said to have consistently maintained since the day of the arrest that the act never occurred as alleged.