Woman on bail for maltreating children

Juaso (Ash), April 24, GNA- A circuit court at Juaso in the Ashanti Region has granted bail in the sum of 30 million cedis to a chop bar operator, accused of denying her sister's children access to education and protection.

Felicia Akplor, who pleaded guilty to the charge, was convicted on her own plea but sentence was deferred to May 4.

The court ordered Akplor to liaise with the police to return the children to their parents and to release 100,000 cedis every day for the upkeep of the children until their return.

Police Chief Inspector Kippo Mahama Iddrisu told the court presided over by Mr. Jacob Boon that the complainants, Nora Yao Dede, 12, and Belinda Ali, 10, were children of the accused's sister. He said Akplor visited her hometown in the Volta Region last year and with the consent of the parents of the children, they were brought to Juaso to be sent to school and also to assist the accused in her chop bar business.

The prosecutor said Akplor enrolled only Dede in school under the pretext that Ali could not speak the Twi language fluently. Chief Inspector Iddrisu said the complainants were subjected to all sorts of child labour and because they could no longer bear the situation, they left home for some days but the accused never bothered to look for them.

On April 11 this year, a witness in the case who spotted the children sleeping at a deserted area close to the Juaso railway station, brought them back to the accused who drove them away. The witness then lodged a complaint to the police who arrested Akplor.