Father of defiled girl petitions Department of Women

Ho, March 5, GNA - Mr Mathew Dablu, a fisherman from Galileo, an island in the Volta Lake, has petitioned the Department of Women in Ho to help bring a Dzemeni-Tongor businessman to justice for allegedly defiling his 14-year-old daughter.

He alleged that Kosivi Agbozo defiled her daughter who was living with him as a house help and then framed her up as having stolen his money when the girl revealed her ordeal after the man had defiled her for the third time.

Mr Dablu, who narrated his daughter's ordeal to officials of the Department of Women in Ho on Thursday, said the victim, a Class Four pupil, was given out to Mr Agbozo as a house help on condition that she continued schooling.

He said the saga of her daughter began on January, 2009, a few months after becoming part of Mr Agbozo's household.

He said one day Mr Agbozo allegedly invited his daughter into his bedroom to do a chore in the absence of his (Agbozo's) wife. Mr Dablu, whose account was corroborated by his daughter, said Agbozo put off the light in the room with the excuse that there was power failure and proceeded to defile his daughter with threats that he, Agbozo, would strangle her if she continued to resist. He said after the act Mr Agbozo warned his daughter to tell no one or be doomed. Mr Dablu said Mr Agbozo defiled his daughter in the room she shared with another house help on a second occasion after having called that other girl out of the room.

He said Mr Agbozo then gave his daughter 500 Ghana cedis to buy some clothing and suitcases which she was to keep with some persons recommended by Agbozo at Tongor-Dzemeni with a stern warning not to reveal the secret. Mr Dablu said his daughter used the money as directed and kept the rest in a box in her room. He said the third episode happened in April 2009, when Mr Agbozo lured his daughter to one of his stores early morning and again defiled her but this time her screaming attracted a nephew of Mr Agbozo to the scene. Mr Dablu said his daughter then escaped and reported her ordeals to him and together made a report to the Peki Police and were given a medical report form. He said the police arrested his daughter based on a report by Mr Agbozo that she had stolen his money and used it in buying some items. Mr Dablu, who presented a medical report from the Bator Catholic Hospital confirming that his daughter's hymen had been broken, said the police refused to investigate the report of defilement made against Mr Agbozo.

He said instead, the Peki Police brought charges of theft against his daughter and had been to court 16 times. Mr Dablu expressed disgust that while her daughter was going through excruciating mental torture, the police detained her at Kpalime-Duga Police Station. Miss Lena Alai, Volta Regional Director of the Department of Women, said her outfit was taking the matter up with the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) in Ho. She said the defiled girl's case was yet another indication that something ought to be done quickly about human trafficking and the rampant abuse of young women in communities around the Volta Lake. Miss Alai said her outfit would want to find out about the woman, named only as Vivian who linked up Mr Dablu with Mr Agbozo.