MUM OF RAPE VICTIMS APPEALS FOR HELP (MIRROR, PAGE 35)

From Emmanuel Modey, Dodi-Papase

A nine-year-old schoolgirl is in critical condition at the Mary Theresa Catholic Hospital at Dodi Papase in the Kadjebi District of the Volta Region after being defiled by a 45-year-old farmer at Ampeyo, a farming community, also in the Kadjebi District.
The girl has also been diagnosed as suffering from kidney failure and referred to the Volta Regional Hospital for further treatment but her mother has been unable to raise the needed funds for the refferal to be effected.
The mother, Talhatu Mohammed, 35, has, therefore, launched an appeal for funds to help her cater for the medical needs of her daughter.
Meanwhile, the suspect, Devine Kutor, alias Anani, has been remanded in prison custody by the Jasikan Circuit Court after being charged with defilement. His plea was not taken.
Prosecuting, Chief Inspector Chris Darkwa said Kutor, a co-tenant of the girl’s mother, allegedly pounced on the girl who was fast asleep in their mother’s room with her younger sister,and gagged her at about 10.30 p.m on May 6, this year.
The girl, whose mother had travelled to Abotoase in the Jasikan District to trade, however, struggled with the suspect and this woke up her younger sister, who put on the light in the room. They saw Kutor, who had a towel around his waist, jumping out of the window and their shouts for help attracted the landlord to the scene.
When their mother returned the next day, the girls told her about the incident and she immediately informed the police at Ahamansu, which is about five kilometres away but it took the police one week to arrest Kutor.
When the victim was taken to the hospital she was diagnosed of kidney failure and subsequently referred to the Volta Regional Hospital at Ho for further treatment.
According to the prosecutor, Madam Talhatu, a divorcee, lived in the Republic of Togo whilst the children lived with their grandmother at Ampeyo before she passed away last month. The prosecutor said Madam Talhatu, however, stayed on after her mother’s burial and had been trading at the Abotoase market “to look for food for the children”.