Ms. Grace Omaboe aka Maame Dokono, talk show hostess and actress, Friday, after hearing of the bench warrant for her arrest, rushed to the Accra Circuit Court Judge, Mrs. Georgina Mensah-Datsa, to explain the circumstances leading to her inability to appear before her. The bench warrant was issued for her arrest after she failed to appear in court for a case in which she and one of her workers have been arraigned for allegedly neglecting her orphanage, Peace and Love Orphanage. Maame Dokono, who arrived early in the company of a female lawyer holding brief for her (Maame Dokono) actual lawyer, Mrs. Joyce Attafuah, told the court that they thought the case was adjourned to yesterday. The lawyer explained that had they been aware that the case was to be heard last Thursday, they would not have stayed away. The trial judge therefore rescinded the bench warrant. The case has been adjourned to April 15, 2010. It would be recalled that, a bench warrant was issued for Maame Dokono’s arrest because she failed to appear in court for the continuation of the case without offering any reasons. The prosecutor in the case, DSP Kofi Blagodzi, had brought a witness from the Department of Social Welfare to give evidence but due to the inability of the accused person to be in court, the witness could not attest. Dr. Mabel Aboah, the surgeon who treated Barrack Omaboe, the little boy allegedly abused at the orphanage, said she thought the child might have been abused and suffered rectal prolapse because the size of his anus was abnormal. Maame Dokono and her worker have both pleaded not guilty to operating an orphanage without a license and exposing the child to harm and are therefore on a GH¢30,000 bail with two sureties. The prosecutor told the court that the orphanage’s license to operate expired on March 2006, after which she did not renew. The NGO therefore remains unlicensed. The prosecutor was of the opinion that Ms. Omaboe failed to employ adequate number of persons to manage the home, adding that the children were underfed, malnourished and made to live in dark and poorly ventilated rooms. Furthermore, he stated that during investigations into allegations of abuse in the orphanage, it was found that while she was away in Holland, some of the children under 12-years-of-age admitted taking advantage of the darkness and lack of attention to defile the younger ones. Source: Daily Guide