Adakabre backs KKD: Slams media over age of 'rape' victim

Adakabre Frimpong Manso, a radio host at NEAT FM, has thrown his weight behind his pal, broadcast journalist Kwesi Kyei Darkwa (KKD), slamming a section of the media in Ghana over its reportage on the rape allegation leveled against KKD recently.

KKD recently challenged the age of his alleged victim and said though the media had reported the age as 19, the actual age was 22 as at the time they had the encounter.

Adakabre, speaking on Peace Fm's Entertainment Review last Saturday, said he agreed with KKD that the media ought to have gone an extra mile to verify the age of the lady before going public with reports that she was 19.

Even when the host of the show, Kwesi Aboagye, drew Adakabre's attention to the fact that the media reported from the charge sheet and the Bill of Indictment, which both pegged the girl's age at 19, he insisted that the media was wrong.

Kwesi Kyei Darkwa (KKD)

Again, when Kwesi Aboagye reminded Adakabre that any journalist who reports from the courts should stick to the facts of the case else he/she risks being cited for contempt, the latter was adamant and insisted the media could still have gone an extra mile to ascertain the actual age of the lady in question.

Surprisingly, when news of the alleged rape broke last year, Adakabre was one of the several journalists who treated the subject and reported the complainant's age as 19.

Adakabre insinuated that some of KKD's critics may have a dislike for him because of his style of dressing and other factors.

The host of the show then called Lawyer Tweneboah Kodua, aka TK, for his legal opinion on the issue.

According to TK, whether the complainant was 19 or 22 is not an issue because when charged for rape, age is not a factor. TK explained that the age of the victim could become an important factor only when it involved a minor.

He opined that in court reportage, the reporter does not have the right to add information not given by the court or any information that is not before the court.

'At 18 you can marry in Ghana; so I would like to correct the young journalists who described maybe a 22-year-old person, whom they thought was 19, as a young girl. She is a young woman,' KKD stated in a recent interview with Bola Ray and stated categorically that the lady was 22 and not 19.

KKD also alleged that the rape allegation brought against him was a fabrication forced on the lips of the lady.

The outspoken KKD, however, failed to give any clue as to which person or group of persons fabricated the rape charge against him.