By Isaac Arkoh
Cape Coast, Sept. 7, GNA – The Central Regional Command of the Ghana Police Service has recorded more than 200 defilement cases within 18 months.
Of the total, about 147 males were arrested with some absconding and are being pursued to face the law.
A police source told the Ghana News Agency that about 101 cases had been sent to court but only 25 had been charged and convicted.
It blamed the disparities in reporting, arresting, and prosecution of cases on the lack of incriminating evidence, cooperation from victims and families, and legal complexities.
Largely, the source condemned the act and attributed the apparent rise in cases to poverty and lack of parental guidance and protection of children, which pushed the victims into the hands of paedophiles.
The source encouraged parents to strictly monitor their children in their usage of mobile phones, including the sites they visited and their relationships.
“Some children get paedophiles online asking them to snap half or full naked pictures for themselves and innocently, some of the children fall prey to such antics.”
“Parents must, however, devise stringent measures to protect children from smartphones, social media, and paedophiles as the police continued to put in all efforts to ensure that criminal activities were reduced across the region”, it said.
A recent report from the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit said a lot of cases on sexual-based violence were reported to the Unit but only about five per cent got convicted.
That was because some families later received compensations from the perpetrators and decided to settle the matter at home without considering the physical and psychological effects on the victims.
The practice had derailed the fortunes of many girls in terms of reproductive health and socio-economic well-being, the source said.
GNA