A 24-year-old National Service Person has been remanded by the Bibiani Circuit Court for allegedly defiling three pupils at Sehwi Asawinso Methodist Primary B in the Western North Region. The accused person, Bismark Ansu, was also a class two teacher of the victims aged between eight and nine years old.
The incident occurred in January this year when the accused person allegedly organised extra classes for his pupils in his house without the knowledge of school authorities. During the classes, he took advantage of the pupils and lured three of them to have sexual intercourse with him, threatening to kill them if they disclosed their ordeal.
The parents of the victims discovered abnormal blood discharges from their daughters’ private parts and upon interrogation, the children revealed their ordeal. The matter was reported to the police, who issued a medical form for examination, treatment, and endorsement of the defilement claims.
The accused person was arrested and charged with three offenses; threat of death, defilement, and threat of harm. He has been remanded into police custody and is to reappear in court on 29th May 2023, pending further investigation.
For the most part, the rise in reported cases of defilement and sexual abuse in Ghana is a cause for concern. It is important that parents and guardians remain vigilant and report any suspicious behaviour by adults towards their children to the authorities.
The Ghana Education Service (GES) has also been called upon to institute strict measures to monitor and regulate the activities of teachers, especially during extra classes, to ensure the safety and protection of children under their care.
In a nutshell, sexual abuse is a serious crime that can have a long-lasting negative impact on the victims. The justice system must be allowed to work without interference to ensure that perpetrators are punished and deterred from committing such heinous crimes in the future.