Christopher Chindo Garbrah, the headmaster of Regent Way, the school Jesus One Touch’s daughter attended, has informed an Accra Circuit Court that the child was often absent from school. The prosecution had sought to prove its case that the 10-year-old girl, who has allegedly been defiled by Prophet Nana Kofi Yirenkyi aka Jesus One Touch, her biological father, was absenting herself from school because of the ordeal she was going through. The victim is reported to have disclosed to an aunty that on Saturdays, Sundays and Tuesdays when she did not go to school, her father had sex with her. According to the headmaster, records at the school showed that the child, in 2009, was not regular in school, a development which made the school authorities try to contact the father but to no avail. The principal, who stays on the school’s premises and has worked in that position for one and half years, told the court presided over by Georgina Mensah Datsa that he once met the accused when the latter came to pick up his daughter around 10:30pm on one school day. Mr. Garbrah, who stated that he has been monitoring the moral and academic activities of the pupil, disclosed that the victim, who was enrolled in 2006 since kindergarten to primary one, has been an average pupil but from primary 2 onwards, the teachers noticed a decline in her academic performance. The headmaster, who admitted that the victim was not the only pupil with such a problem, said normally when they noticed this problem, the school sends letters, visits the parents, or invites them to Parent, Teacher Association (P.T.A) meetings where they discuss the way forward for such children. However, in the case of the victim, he said the rate at which she absented herself from class drew his attention and therefore made him write a letter to her father as well as invite him to P.T.A. meetings but he did not turn up. Mr. Garbrah said on one occasion, he engaged the girl’s class teacher to contact the father but this did not yield any result. Again, he said he tried using two pupils who are related to the victim to reach her father, this he said also failed. According to him, the police came to pick the register from the school. The prosecutor then tendered in evidence without objection, the register for the victim’s class attendance in 2009. Under-cross examination by K.N. Adomako Acheampong, Mr. Garbrah denied doctoring the register just for the purpose of the case after the lawyer pointed out to him that a portion had initially been marked present but later changed to absent. Counsel was of the view that the headmaster never knew the accused till yesterday, but the latter disagreed, saying he had met him once on the school compound. Counsel put it to him that he was in court because he was peeved with the accused for not attending P.T.A meeting on the three occasions he invited him and as a result of that had developed hatred for the man, but the witness answered that he cannot get angry with him for not attending meetings and that all he can do is only try to get him on board. When asked whether the victim had come to his office to confide anything in him, the witness answered that he does not allow the children to visit his office directly since he has people who take care of their problems. He said it was only the head of Lower Primary who came to inform him about the child’s truancy as well as her poor academic performance. When asked whether he tried to find out the cause of her truancy, the principal stated that although he tried, he never got the father. After the headmaster had finished his testimony, the prosecutor called in one Andrews Owiredu Kwandor, a cousin of the victim’s mother, Bernice Owiredu, to also testify. In his evidence, Mr. Kwandor stated that the victim’s mother informed him that the accused had asked her to come to Accra. On her return from Accra, the mother informed him that the father had asked her to advise the victim. He disclosed that the mother brought the child to Dawu where she stays after her third visit to Accra. After a while, the accused also came to pick the child back but on three occasions, the mother refused to allow him to take her away. This, he said, made Jesus One Touch decide not to take care of the victim. He said before Jesus One Touch left Dawu, he gave him (witness) GH¢10.00 and informed him that his (Jesus One Touch’s) children said Efo, his houseboy, had been sleeping with the victim and that because he was angry, he slapped Efo and drove him out of the house. The witness said he told the accused that he should have handed the said Efo to the police. After the accused had left, the witness said he received information from Georgina Larbi, an aunty to the victim that the child said it was her father who raped her and not Efo. According to him, although he was surprised, he believed the story. Under-cross examination, the witness denied ever reprimanding the victim’s mother for bringing up such an allegation against the accused but counsel told him that one Dinah was there when the confrontation took place. Counsel put it to him that Dinah and one Cynthia had also confronted the complainant as to why she was doing this against the accused. In response, the witness said it was true the two approached the complainant behind closed doors but added that they only discussed how the complainant would come to Accra to meet the accused to send the victim to the hospital. Source: Daily Guide/Ghana