Mother of 15-year-old abused girl at Ofoase hands herself over to police

Akim Oda Divisional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Fleance Senam Adika confirmed that the suspect handed herself in on Wednesday and her statement was taken.

Sarah Frimpong handed herself over after going into hiding following her escape from police arrest on Monday. She together with her husband, Kofi Owusu ran away when a team of personnel of the Ofoase District Police together with the officers from the Eastern Regional Police Command went to the house to effect their arrest.

The duo who are prime suspects in the beating and sexual molestation of the child accused of truancy and sleeping outside the home were subsequently declared wanted with police again visiting the house on Tuesday but did not meet them.

The step-father together with three other boys identified as Paapa, Simon and one other said to be farm hands of the couple are however still on the run with their whereabouts still unknown.

The case has been subsequently transferred to the Oda Division of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service.

A police source told GhanaWeb that Sarah Frimpong during police interrogation explained that she and her husband only sought to demonstrate their parental responsibilities on the child who failed to sleep at home most times.

According to the mother, the victim was insolent when they scolded and questioned her the next morning prompting them to instigate their farm hands to discipline her. She furthered that she subsequently left for the kitchen to prepare food, leaving the victim in the hands of the step-father for further disciplinary action but claimed she did not witness the abuse meted out to her daughter in the process.

She denied knowing the whereabouts of her husband though GhanaWeb is reliably informed that the duo visited their farm on Tuesday after escaping arrest on Monday.
She was subsequently granted bail while a search for the prime suspect, Kofi Owusu, continues.

Meanwhile, the victim has been sent for medical examination and also already received counseling from the Social Welfare Department and the DOVVSU and currently putting up with the grandmother in the same vicinity.

Background

The victim, a basic six girl in a video made available to GhanaWeb was seen being caned, beaten, stripped naked and sexually assaulted as punishment for her alleged waywardness, supposedly on the instruction of the step-father.

She was heard in an audio recording detailing how the step-dad after the assault further instructed the boys to insert pepper into her private part.

The victim was said to have left the house on Friday, 27th May, 2022 and failed to return home until Saturday morning, provoking the stepfather’s actions.