A revenue collector, Mr Johnson Jato Saman, has appealed to the Minister of the Interior to investigate and bring to book three culprits who, he alleges, performed an abortion on his wife for rituals at Akrodie, a village in the Brong Ahafo Region eight years ago.

According to Mr Saman, his wife was four months pregnant when the perpetrators, whose names he only gave as Kpenam, Banze and Yalewa, ambushed her in a farm, raped and later forced her to drink a concoction to abort the pregnancy.

Mr Saman said the three were arrested by the Akrodie Police but later granted bail and since then nothing has been done about the case.

He said he had written several letters to various law enforcement agencies, including the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Inspector General of Police (IGP), but his wife had not yet received justice.

Mr Saman further alleged that when the alleged culprits were granted bail, they vandalised his room and later threatened to take his life for seeking justice for his wife.

He said as a result, he fled the area, where he worked on a cocoa farm, to Nkawkaw to seek refuge while his wife went to live with her mother at Tobong in the Upper East Region.

A letter dated January 22, 2002, which is a reply from the IGP and signed by Mr P.K. Avuyi, a Staff Officer to the IGP to one of Mr Saman's petitions, stated, “I am directed by the Inspector-General of Police to inform you that the matter is civil and advise that you resort to civil action”.

Mr. Saman said based on this reply, he contacted the Petitions and Complaints Unit of the Judicial Service for assistance and in a letter to the unit, complained of injustice and corruption.

A reply to the letter signed by Mr A.K. Safo-Adu, dated October 24. 2005, from the unit, stated, “Police investigations into the case had stalled due to the petitioners wife leaving unceremoniously to an unknown destination”.

That letter also stated that the suspects were on police enquiry bail and the complainant was advised to assist to trace the whereabouts of his wife.

The letter further directed the District Officer of Kukuom in the Brong-Ahafo Region to trace the woman for her statement and thereafter prepare a duplicate docket to be forwarded to the Principal State Attorney in Sunyani for advice.

Mr Saman however, insisted that the wife was staying with the mother in the Upper East Region at a village called Tobong and that he had made this information available to the law enforcement agencies.

He described his quest to seek justice for the maltreatment and crime that was committed against his wife as a frustrating one since all avenues he had channelled his complaints to had not given him the needed support.




Source: Daily Graphic