I remember some time back, visiting a friend in Belgium who had just returned from Ghana -and whilst recounting her travels of back home, she mentioned an incident that got me worried…
Staying with some relative (not her immediate family oOo) in a village just outside of Sunyani in Brong-Ahafo Region -she was awoken by a little boy, a distant family member -who was moving up and down on her body, mercifully she was under the covers and he was on top!!! After jumping out of her skin and bed she asked him (he was about five years old) -what on earth he was doing -and apparently he just laughed and run out…later her cousins explained that perhaps …he had seen his parents doing that and was emulating what he saw!!! Shocked by this story and the families' reaction -I asked her if she had thought for one second …that the little boy might have been abused? And her reaction, common in the Ghanaian community was, “no, never, surly not, such things don‘t happen” and this, I‘m afraid is the reason many abused children go undetected and thus don’t get the help/support they need in Ghana.....
I remember falling out with my son’s father a couple of years ago over an incident that he… still believes I overreacted -over!!!
My then five year old son was spending the weekend with him -and as usual, I decided to call him at around six pm to see if he was ok and find out if he was eating etc etc -and instead of getting his father on his mobile I got my son. My baby explained his father had left him with an uncle -so he could pop to the shops to buy some drinks and get him a sweet … Well I never!!! My heart started beating … my son didn’t know the uncle but he was apparently a very good friend of his fathers’ and even though I also didn’t know him…my Jojo was alright and watching TV.
Trying to stay calm for my baby‘s sake, I asked to speak to this uncle and Jojo was right I didn’t know him…but he, the 'uncle' in question -did assure me my baby was fine and that his father had just popped out to buy some drinks and food -and would be back shortly… At that moment I was outside Oxford street Topshop with my mate Talib -and I felt sick..
I didn’t know this uncle/man!!! My son didn’t know this man and I felt sick. I know for many of you reading this ..I was uber irrational, overreacting maybe - but thoughts I can’t even begin to share with you but are experienced by most parents at least once in their lives flashed through my mind… I prayed -and just believed this stranger wouldn’t hurt/damage my child (Amen)… I decided to keep talking to him but my baby become distracted and told me he was missing his cartoons… so I told him to get his father to call him as soon as he got back home…
How did this story end [I'll serve it to you a lot neater than it really was]….I let my baby’s father have it!!!!!! I wanted to know how he could leave my child with someone I and my child didn’t know???? I wanted to know how on earth he could do that!!!! I wanted to know why he didn’t take my son with him -or if he was worried that his sooo called friend might steal something from his house, -his designer clothes -say; -so he instead left my son with this stranger ….to protect his goodssss…
As always…..I was, according to Jojo’s father -overrating!!! He also suggested that ….maybe ….I’d finally gone mad!!! …. I didn’t give a s**@*# and my questions ensued…“how long had he known this man to think it's alright to leave my baby with him?” And even when prodded further (my true fears coming out) …“had he any idea the things some people do to children” ……his answer(s) was as above….“no, never, surly not, such things don‘t happen.”
I don’t know…….was it just his mulish-Akim Oda-satellite-dish-head -jagger-jagger-ness or lack of education or just plan ignorance -because…… people …..‘all sorts’ are happening to children right under the noses of their family members’ … and we have to be aware.
Anyway it got me thinking about the ‘One-Touch’ preacher and the ongoing sad saga of a defiled ten year old girl….
This sad story truly amazes me!!!! Whatever the truth…… I have yet to meet a child who talks about rape -never mind makes up such stories, thus my prayers go out to this girl. May she not be defined by this life altering horrific incident and may she go on to become all that she was destined to be and more (Amen)… The following is a piece about human rights lawyer, Nana Oye Lithur and her feelings about the very, very, very, very early release of Pastor One-Touch…
You know…….. I’ve always known there are unforeseen forces at work in every field, in every country; that the super rich/powerful/special lodge members (wink, wink, nudge, nudge, special handshake brigade) exist everywhere -soooo I’m wondering? Is this another case of a powerful man ‘getting away with it” or do the high courts of GHANA truly believe Pastor One-Touch is innocent?????
I think its also important to remember that Ghana’s still somewhat behind -and victims of rape etc etc, are not really seen as victims… but rather as, “why did you let him do that to you” verve?? And this disgusting attitude persists, thus rendering Ghana a place where raped victims are afraid to reports said crimes.
When will things change? I'm guuessing....... when the likes of human rights lawyer, Nana Oye Lithur have bigger voices -and when other powerful women in the public eye decide to confront this vile act -head-on!!!
Honestly…. I’m really blown away by this story -especially as it involves ‘another’ pastor etc etc…. It makes you wonder -no??? The following text comes from the Ghana To Ghana website….
A human rights lawyer has expressed utter disappointment over the acquittal and discharge of Prophet Kofi Yirenkyi popularly known as Jesus Onetouch by a High Court in Accra, Friday.
Nana Oye Lithur is even more disappointed with the Attorney General and his office for the lackadaisical manner in which they handled the case and suspected it is partly the reason why the pastor has been freed.
Jesus Onetouch was slapped with a ten year jail term for defiling his own ten year old daughter but after five months in prison a High Court Friday reversed the Circuit court’s decision on appeal.
The sitting judge Justice Emmanuel Dzakpasu ruled the prosecution could not prove beyond every reasonable doubt that the girl’s hymen was broken by penis penetration and more importantly if it was the father who defiled her.
MultiTV’s Curtis Howard reported that two separate doctors’ reports tendered in evidence could not also vindicate the position by the prosecution.
The judge therefore set the accused person free. But Oye Lithur is not happy.
“We are disappointed with the judgement… We are also very disappointed with the way the Attorney General’s office and the Attorney General and the State Attorneys have handled this case because they were not in court today.
“The case was called, they were not in court and the case was stood down and still they did not appear in court.
“So we have to look at how the Attorney General’s Department and the State Attorney on this case has handled it and whether or not this has contributed to the judgment we have today,” she said.
Lithur questioned how the two doctors’ reports were tendered in evidence on appeal and questioned who ordered the second test and challenged how it was done.
She was convinced that with time the scars on the victim’s private parts and which was basis for the first ruling against Jesus Onetouch may have been healed which made a second test a fait accompli in favour of the accused person.
Oye Lithur urged the Attorney General to appeal the case.
Credit: http://www.ghanatoghana.com/
Staying with some relative (not her immediate family oOo) in a village just outside of Sunyani in Brong-Ahafo Region -she was awoken by a little boy, a distant family member -who was moving up and down on her body, mercifully she was under the covers and he was on top!!! After jumping out of her skin and bed she asked him (he was about five years old) -what on earth he was doing -and apparently he just laughed and run out…later her cousins explained that perhaps …he had seen his parents doing that and was emulating what he saw!!! Shocked by this story and the families' reaction -I asked her if she had thought for one second …that the little boy might have been abused? And her reaction, common in the Ghanaian community was, “no, never, surly not, such things don‘t happen” and this, I‘m afraid is the reason many abused children go undetected and thus don’t get the help/support they need in Ghana.....
I remember falling out with my son’s father a couple of years ago over an incident that he… still believes I overreacted -over!!!
My then five year old son was spending the weekend with him -and as usual, I decided to call him at around six pm to see if he was ok and find out if he was eating etc etc -and instead of getting his father on his mobile I got my son. My baby explained his father had left him with an uncle -so he could pop to the shops to buy some drinks and get him a sweet … Well I never!!! My heart started beating … my son didn’t know the uncle but he was apparently a very good friend of his fathers’ and even though I also didn’t know him…my Jojo was alright and watching TV.
Trying to stay calm for my baby‘s sake, I asked to speak to this uncle and Jojo was right I didn’t know him…but he, the 'uncle' in question -did assure me my baby was fine and that his father had just popped out to buy some drinks and food -and would be back shortly… At that moment I was outside Oxford street Topshop with my mate Talib -and I felt sick..
I didn’t know this uncle/man!!! My son didn’t know this man and I felt sick. I know for many of you reading this ..I was uber irrational, overreacting maybe - but thoughts I can’t even begin to share with you but are experienced by most parents at least once in their lives flashed through my mind… I prayed -and just believed this stranger wouldn’t hurt/damage my child (Amen)… I decided to keep talking to him but my baby become distracted and told me he was missing his cartoons… so I told him to get his father to call him as soon as he got back home…
How did this story end [I'll serve it to you a lot neater than it really was]….I let my baby’s father have it!!!!!! I wanted to know how he could leave my child with someone I and my child didn’t know???? I wanted to know how on earth he could do that!!!! I wanted to know why he didn’t take my son with him -or if he was worried that his sooo called friend might steal something from his house, -his designer clothes -say; -so he instead left my son with this stranger ….to protect his goodssss…
As always…..I was, according to Jojo’s father -overrating!!! He also suggested that ….maybe ….I’d finally gone mad!!! …. I didn’t give a s**@*# and my questions ensued…“how long had he known this man to think it's alright to leave my baby with him?” And even when prodded further (my true fears coming out) …“had he any idea the things some people do to children” ……his answer(s) was as above….“no, never, surly not, such things don‘t happen.”
I don’t know…….was it just his mulish-Akim Oda-satellite-dish-head -jagger-jagger-ness or lack of education or just plan ignorance -because…… people …..‘all sorts’ are happening to children right under the noses of their family members’ … and we have to be aware.
Anyway it got me thinking about the ‘One-Touch’ preacher and the ongoing sad saga of a defiled ten year old girl….
This sad story truly amazes me!!!! Whatever the truth…… I have yet to meet a child who talks about rape -never mind makes up such stories, thus my prayers go out to this girl. May she not be defined by this life altering horrific incident and may she go on to become all that she was destined to be and more (Amen)… The following is a piece about human rights lawyer, Nana Oye Lithur and her feelings about the very, very, very, very early release of Pastor One-Touch…
You know…….. I’ve always known there are unforeseen forces at work in every field, in every country; that the super rich/powerful/special lodge members (wink, wink, nudge, nudge, special handshake brigade) exist everywhere -soooo I’m wondering? Is this another case of a powerful man ‘getting away with it” or do the high courts of GHANA truly believe Pastor One-Touch is innocent?????
I think its also important to remember that Ghana’s still somewhat behind -and victims of rape etc etc, are not really seen as victims… but rather as, “why did you let him do that to you” verve?? And this disgusting attitude persists, thus rendering Ghana a place where raped victims are afraid to reports said crimes.
When will things change? I'm guuessing....... when the likes of human rights lawyer, Nana Oye Lithur have bigger voices -and when other powerful women in the public eye decide to confront this vile act -head-on!!!
Honestly…. I’m really blown away by this story -especially as it involves ‘another’ pastor etc etc…. It makes you wonder -no??? The following text comes from the Ghana To Ghana website….
Nana Oye Lithur
A human rights lawyer has expressed utter disappointment over the acquittal and discharge of Prophet Kofi Yirenkyi popularly known as Jesus Onetouch by a High Court in Accra, Friday.
Nana Oye Lithur is even more disappointed with the Attorney General and his office for the lackadaisical manner in which they handled the case and suspected it is partly the reason why the pastor has been freed.
Jesus Onetouch was slapped with a ten year jail term for defiling his own ten year old daughter but after five months in prison a High Court Friday reversed the Circuit court’s decision on appeal.
The sitting judge Justice Emmanuel Dzakpasu ruled the prosecution could not prove beyond every reasonable doubt that the girl’s hymen was broken by penis penetration and more importantly if it was the father who defiled her.
MultiTV’s Curtis Howard reported that two separate doctors’ reports tendered in evidence could not also vindicate the position by the prosecution.
The judge therefore set the accused person free. But Oye Lithur is not happy.
“We are disappointed with the judgement… We are also very disappointed with the way the Attorney General’s office and the Attorney General and the State Attorneys have handled this case because they were not in court today.
“The case was called, they were not in court and the case was stood down and still they did not appear in court.
“So we have to look at how the Attorney General’s Department and the State Attorney on this case has handled it and whether or not this has contributed to the judgment we have today,” she said.
Lithur questioned how the two doctors’ reports were tendered in evidence on appeal and questioned who ordered the second test and challenged how it was done.
She was convinced that with time the scars on the victim’s private parts and which was basis for the first ruling against Jesus Onetouch may have been healed which made a second test a fait accompli in favour of the accused person.
Oye Lithur urged the Attorney General to appeal the case.
Credit: http://www.ghanatoghana.com/
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