Child rights organisation Challenging Heights has threatened to formally petition key state institutions if authorities fail to swiftly arrest and prosecute a woman accused of inflicting life-threatening injuries on her three-year-old stepdaughter in Winneba.
The girl, who had been sent to spend her vacation with her father, is currently receiving emergency care at the Trauma and Specialist Hospital after sustaining severe burns to her private parts.
The injuries were allegedly inflicted by her stepmother, identified as Akaima, a Liberian national, who is said to have poured hot water on the child as punishment for bedwetting.
Founder of Challenging Heights, James Kofi Annan, speaking on Morning Starr with Naa Dedei Tettey on Friday, September 19 described the act as “attempted murder” and questioned why the accused remains free.
He warned that if by close of day the woman is not arrested, the organisation will escalate the matter.
“We shouldn’t even ask the police to arrest these people; they should immediately arrest this woman. This woman is there walking freely. If by close of today the woman hasn’t been arrested, we’ll petition the Gender Ministry, the IGP, the Attorney General, and we’ll release her picture because this should not be allowed,” he stated.
Challenging Heights further insisted that the father must also be held accountable, stressing that both parents share responsibility for the abuse.
The group is also calling on government to strengthen child protection institutions such as the Department of Social Welfare, DOVVSU, and the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, pointing out that weak enforcement and chronic underfunding continue to expose children to abuse.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
