3 juveniles escape from remand home

Three juveniles in the custody of the Pedu Remand Home in Cape Coast are currently on the run after breaking out of the facility through a window. The three are all males aged 15, 17 and 16 years old.

The 15-year-old was being tried for murder whilst the other two were being tried for stealing.

The Officer in Charge of the Home, Veronica Donkor said they escaped through an opening they created by cutting some of the iron bars on the window frame of their room.

She said the incident occurred on March 7, adding that the three, who were the only inmates, were brought to the facility in November last year.

She could neither identify the tool they used to cut the iron bars nor where they got them but suspected they were assisted from the outside since there was no wall around the facility making it easy for strangers to enter and exit unrestrained.

Ms Donkor said sometimes at 0130 hours “you could see people walking around the compound” and “as you can see there is a drinking bar too on this compound.”

The drinking bar was a few metres away from the remand home making it difficult to distinguish between visitors of the home and patrons of the bar.

There is no main gate or security checkpoint rather a taxi rank around. Ms. Donkor said she had lodged complaint with the Regional Social Welfare Department and the Metropolitan Police Command who have visited the facility and were investigating.

She enumerated challenges facing the facility to include encroachment on its land, absence of a fence wall, inadequate staff and funds to run the home.

The Pedu Remand Home is merged with the Social Welfare Girls Vocational Training Centre where funds generated from the school are used to manage the home.