Lactating mother jailed for harming step daughter

A 21-year-old lactating mother and a seamstress apprentice who harmed her stepdaughter at Nyankoman in the Aowin Municipality has been sentenced to six months imprisonment by the Enchi District Magistrate court.

The court, in addition, ordered Mary Ackaah, alias Assor, to pay a fine of GH¢1,200 or in default serve six months in prison.

She was convicted on her own plea of guilty.

Detective Inspector Joseph Kwadwo Agyare, prosecuting the case, told the court presided over by Mr Eric Baah Boateng that Hannah Mensah, the complainant, resides at Yiwabra, while Kwame Agyemang, a witness, is one of the parents of the victim (name withheld) who is eight years old and a primary two pupil.

He said the victim lived in the same room with her father, siblings and the convict at Nyankoman.

Errands

The prosecution said at about 10:00 am on May 26, 2020, Mary invited the victim to run some errands for her, while she was playing with her friends in the neighbourhood but the victim did not respond to the call.

He said later in the day, the victim went home to have her supper and Mary upon seeing her got upset and decided to lash her with a cane but in the process, the cane hit the victim's left eye which became reddish and swollen.

Inspector Agyare said Mary kept what happened to herself and even warned the victim not to tell the father or else she would subject her to severe beatings.

Victim lied

He said when the victim was questioned by the father about her injury, she lied that it was his younger brother who hit her left eye with a stick while they were playing and so the father sent her to the Episcopal health centre at Nyankoman for treatment.

The prosecution said on May 27, the complainant paid an unannounced visit to the victim but seeing her condition, she rushed her to the Presbyterian health centre in Enchi, where a referral note was issued to her to send the victim to the Agogo Hospital in the Ashanti Region to seek further medical attention.

He said the complainant thereafter made a report at the Enchi Police station, where a medical report form was issued to her on behalf of the victim for a medical examination, and later Mary was apprehended.

Inspector Agyare said a medical report from the hospital indicated that the victim was totally blind in the left eye.

He said the convict confessed to the act in her caution statement and after investigations, she was charged with the offence.