Ms Rita Narh, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) in charge of DOVVSU in the Volta region has said that 526 cases were listed under domestic violence between June 2006 and June 2007. She said non-maintenance of children, defilement and assault were on top of the list and that it appeared people were ignorant of the "age factor and consent" in cases of defilement. She made this known at the inauguration of new offices for the DOVVSU in the region. Ms Narh said as a result suspects boldly proclaimed they sexually abused girls mainly above 12 years as their girlfriends and even mentioned the number of times they had gone to bed with them. She said it was as result of advocacy programmes in the district that the strange practice in some cultures for men to sleep with their sisters before giving them out in marriage was encountered in the Nkwanta District. Dr Laude Mensah, a Medical Doctor at the Paediatric Unit of the Volta Regional Hospital said the harm done sexually to under age girls and even women could be devastating and would affect their lives forever. He said pleas by families of the miscreants who engage in such acts for settlement at home should be discouraged. Source: GNA