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Bathing after rape destroys evidence – DOVVSU
● Supt. Setina Aboagye speaking at the forum
Evidence is the necessary ingredient needed in prosecution to establish one’s guilt or otherwise at the law court.
To this end, the Western Regional Commander of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service, Superintendent Setina Aboagye has asked people not to have their bath when they are raped or defiled but rather, they should rush to the police station to lodge complaint against the perpetrators of the crime for investigation to be conducted.
“We need evidence to be able to prove our cases in court. We have been telling victims of rape and defilement that when you are raped you are not supposed to have your bath because we are interested in the torn panties, the beads and whatever.
“These things serve as evidence and help us to build our cases and secure successful prosecution in court,” she stressed.
Supt. Aboagye said these during a media engagement organised by Twin Cities in Sustainable Partnership Project(TCSPP) as part of the campaign for youth-oriented and gender sensitive topics at Sekondi, in the Western Region.
She encouraged the media to educate the public on the importance of evidence and that without it, “there’s nothing we can do to push the case to court.”
Supt. Aboagyetold the journalists that another challenge with case prosecution was that, people reported cases and later came back to withdraw them “but some cases cannot be settled at home.”
She cautioned the public to desist from that because domestic violence cases were not to be settled at home and that offenders would be arrested.
A major challenge, she noted, was a situation “where a father who sleeps with a daughter or a step-father who impregnates a step-daughter is imprisoned; this eventually brings untold hardship to both the victim and her mother.”
The coordinator said, issues of domestic violence affected people’s emotions and that professionals would be needed to seek the victim’s consent before taking the case to court, especially when dealing with a case of spousal assault.
With such cases, she said, the victim would feel shy to stand in the open court to tell the whole world that her husband assaulted her.”
Supt. Aboagye told participants that the unit (DOVVSU) had done well in rescuing victims and cited a case at Sunyani where a girl was rescued and was now a graduate professional teacher.
DOVVSU, she indicated, had professionals, who also provided counselling for victims to access medical treatment.
“At DOVVSU, when victims come, we have to listen to them attentively and afterwards determine whether it is within our purview to handle such cases otherwise we refer such cases to the appropriate quarters for action to be taken,” she said.
From Clement Adzei Boye, Sekondi
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Swedru All Blacks back to winning ways, Roshan humble King Faisal
Sekondi Rospak FC made it eight wins in eight successive home games after three second-half goals from John Amoah, Joseph Ntow and Stephen Anthony Kofi. John Amoah opened the scoring in the 55th minute after a barren first half. Joseph Ntow added to the tally in the 56th minute before Stephen Anthony Kofi rounded things up in the 74th minute to give Rospak a 3-0 win over former Premier League side King Faisal.
Elsewhere at Swedru – leaders Swedru All Blacks humbled PAC Academy in an emphatic 2-0 win. Zayat Bubakari scored first for Swedru All Blacks in the 27th minute before Rudolf Junior Nana Kwasi Mensah made it 2-0 in the 34th minute. Swedru All Blacks are top of the table with 36 points – 4 points ahead of second placed Rospak FC.
Meanwhile, Former Premier League side Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs recorded their fourth successive home victory after beaten New Edubiase United 2-1 at the Robert Mensah Park. Enoch Odoom struck first for Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs in the 19th minute but Steven Asante equalized for New Edubiase United before halftime. After the interval, Godfred Eshun scored from distance in the 65th minute to help Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs secure all the points.
Here are the results in Zone Two
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Cervical Cancer alert: Avoid sex at early age
The Programmes Manager of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Mary Efua Commeh, has advised young girls to avoid sex at an early age.
This, she explained, will give the cervix the opportunity to mature before they become sexually active.
“You need to delay what we call the first sexual intercourse as much as possible to give the cervix the opportunity to mature before the person becomes sexually active,” she said.
Dr Commeh stated this in an interview with The Spectator in Accra on Tuesday as a part of the Cervical Cancer awareness month.
According to her, cervical cancer was the second leading female cancer in Ghana with a total of about 3,072 cases annually, and out of that, 1,815 deaths are recorded, representing more than 50 per cent.
She indicated that “If young girls are going to be sexually active, then you need to talk to your parents about being vaccinated.”
She explained that vaccinating young girls against human papillomavirus (HPV) has been found to be a very effective way of preventing cervical cancer.
“There are countries that started HPV vaccination years ago and they are not seeing any cervical cancers now because they would have eliminated most of the high-risk HPVs in their women. So if the high-risk HPV is not there, then obviously the results on cervical cancers are going to go down,” she added.
Dr Commmey said the HPV vaccination is recommended for young girls aged nine to 14 years, adding that it had been found to be highly effective, not just for cervical cancers but for other HPV-related cancers, such as anal cancers, cancers of the vagina, genital warts, amongst others.
She further elaborated that the idea is to put up a barrier before the HPV comes in and that once a young female encounters it, she is already protected.
She also mentioned that for cervical cancers, the main cause is called HPV infection, saying generally, all sexually active women acquire HPV at some point in their lives.
However, the Programmes Manager of NCDs at the GHS mentioned that the body has a way of clearing the HPV, explaining that it is a natural mechanism that goes on, unfortunately, there are a few women whose HPV persists.
Moreover, she noted that the numbers for Cervical Cancer tend to be much higher because at times, clients would wait, and try all sorts of medications before they finally report to the health facility saying “we actually lose some women before they get to the hospitals with over 75 per cent of the cases coming in its third and fourth stages.”
Dr Commey, therefore, called for public awareness while ensuring the availability of information for prevention and control.
By Jemima Esinam Kuatsinu
