Former Minister for Gender, Children, and Social Protection, Cynthia Mamle Morrison, has stressed the need for urgent relocation and protection of the alleged victim to ensure her safety and recovery in an alleged defilement case involving a police officer and his biological daughter.

She said the child’s welfare, education, and well-being must be prioritised.

“We need to relocate the girl to the safest place. " The interest of the child, her welfare, and education are important,” she said in an interview on Adom FM’s morning show, Dwaso Nsem, on June 5.

She noted that the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) should be fully involved in the matter, given that the victim is a minor.

“DOVVSU is under the police and the Ministry of Gender, and I believe once she is a minor, they will know what is going on,” she added.

Mrs. Morrison further called for counselling support for both the child and her mother as part of efforts to help them recover from the trauma.

“The woman also needs counselling, just as the girl,” she said.

According to her, the abuse allegedly began when the girl went to stay with her father in Garu after years of not knowing him.

She claimed the father allegedly forced himself on the girl during her first visit.

The mother further stated that the child later underwent a medical examination at an undisclosed hospital, where she was diagnosed with HIV.