General News of Wednesday, 3 February 2010

Source: Daily Guide

Father impregnates daughter

A man who could not resist the beauty of his biological daughter has allegedly raped and impregnated her, landing himself in deep trouble with the Ashaiaman branch of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Police Service.

According to DOVVSU officials, the incestuous father, Baba Musa, hails from Sandema in the Upper East Region but resided in Klogon near Sakumono and worked as a private security man for an unnamed firm in his area. Baba Musa, 38, was arrested and detained by the police after his 20-year-old daughter (name withheld), who was two months pregnant, reported him to the unit for raping her on numerous occasions while holding a knife to her throat.

Daily Guide first heard about the alleged incest from a resident of the area where Musah and his daughter lived and when contacted, the Ashaiman Divisional Co-orinator of DOVVSU, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Christine Yevunoo confirmed the report.

ASP Yevunoo said the victim’s stepmother who was separated from the accused person, also confirmed the allegation against Musah who had since admitted to the crime and blamed the devil for his actions. The DOVVSU Divisional Co-ordinator said the victim had explained that the marriage between her father and mother broke down, with her mother relocating to Kumasi where she came from.

The victim was said to have followed her mother to Kumasi where they lived with relatives until recently when her mother died. The victim, who had one child, according to ASP Yevunoo, after staying in Kumasi for some time, relocated back to Accra after her mother’s death to join her father and his new wife with their three children at Klagon. Not long after her arrival, the stepmother packed out of the house with her three children and relocated to Accra, leaving behind the victim and her father.

As if to suggest that he wanted his daughter to take over the duties of wife, Baba Musah was reported to have prevented his daughter from going out often and always insisted that she remained indoors. He was said to have also prevented her from talking to men including their immediate neigbours and only allowed her out when she had to run an errand for him. The victim claimed that her father pulled a knife on her and forcibly had sex bouts with her continuously at their residence.

Realizing that the victim was pregnant, Musah allegedly intensified his strict measures on her to prevent people, especially next door neigbours from noticing his evil and shameful act. Freedom finally came the victim’s way when one of her step-brothers visited them. The victim, seeing her chance to escape from his incestuous father, asked his permission to see off her stepbrother to the roadside, where he was expected to board an Accra bound vehicle.

Unknown to Musah, his daughter had other plans, she boarded the vehicle with her brother and arrived at her stepmothers residence where she quickly recounted her ordeal at the hands of Musah. The victim and her stepmother dashed to the Ashaiman branch of DOVVSU and reported the case to officials. The accused, according to the head of the unit, was quickly arrested after which he admitted the offence during interrogation, blaming the devil for his incestuous acts. He allegedly asked the victim to return home with him so that together they could go to the bush where he could perform an abortion for her.

She however declined to go back with him, fearing that he might kill her if she when with him to Klagon. Speaking to Daily Guide, Musah confirmed the allegations but said he was making frantic efforts to convince his daughter to go with him to perform some rituals to cleanse the two of them of curses that might come as a result of the abomination act he engaged his daughter in. Musah blamed the devil for his actions and said he was sorry, promising that he would never do such a thing again so long as he lived.

The DOVVSU boss said as soon as investigations were completed, Musah would be hauled before court this morning to face two charges on incest and rape. Meanwhile, the unit is in talks with a non-governmental organization (NGO) to find support for the victim who is currently putting up with her step-mother in Accra.