Defilement: Amend Act 29 to provide compensation for victims- Judge
According to her, such a move will encourage more victims and their parents to report such cases to the police rather than resolve them at home.
A Circuit Court Judge in Kumasi, Gloria Mensah-Bonsu, has called for the amendment of Section 101 of the Criminal and Other Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) to provide a compensatory remedy for defiled victims.
According to her, such a move will encourage more victims and their parents to report such cases to the police rather than resolve them at home.
Speaking at a two-day workshop organized to validate gender-based violence, sexual exploitation and abuse, and sexual harassment prevention and response action plans for the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area sanitation and water resources project, she bemoaned the fact that most people are not reporting the crime despite its ascendancy.
Further justifying the need for the amendment, Her Honour said that most parents of victims would be unwilling to bow to the pressure of society to settle such cases out of court if they knew that the law would compensate them.
Additionally, Ms. Mensah Bonsu recounted instances hindering the reporting of the crime, such as the low-income status of sexual violence victims, who often face threats of death even from perpetrators, restraining them from reporting to the police.
Also, she blamed the stigmatization of such victims coupled with the long processes involved in the prosecution, which forced them to opt for out-of-court settlement and the fact that families of sexual violence victims treated the act as a money-making venture.
On the part of the police, Her Honour said that they face a great challenge in prosecuting sexual violence cases because most families show unwillingness to continue or cooperate.
