Crime & Punishment of Tuesday, 27 March 2012

Source: Daily Guide

2 nabbed for abortion

Two ladies are in the grips of the Odorkor District Police Command in connection with the death of a Senior High School (SHS) student who died through abortion.

The suspects are Portia Darko, 25, and Ama Nkrumah, 48, both residents of Sowutuom in Accra.

The deceased, Alberta Hackman, 17, a student of Twifo Praso Senior High School, was allegedly given Cytotec, an ulcer capsule being used as an emergency contraceptive pill, by the two suspects to terminate her two-month-old pregnancy.

The two are currently in the custody of the Anyaa Police assisting in their investigations.

Narrating the story to Daily Guide, ASP Kwabena Owusu Bempah, Odorkor District Police Deputy Commander, indicated that the incident happened on March 11, 2012 but the victim died while receiving treatment on March 22, 2012 at the Ridge Hospital.

When Alberta realised that she was pregnant, she told her acquaintance Portia Darko to help her abort the foetus. Portia in turn contacted Ama Nkrumah, a drug peddler in the area, to help them with the abortion.

Madam Nkrumah gave some tablets of Cytotec to Portia to be taken by the deceased when going to bed. “Instructions were that she should swallow five of the tablets and insert two into her vagina.”

Alberta Hackman carried out the orders but bled profusely for days. Mother of the deceased, Georgina Tei took her daughter to Amoah Hospital at Awoshie where Dilation And Curettage also known as (D and C) was carried out on her to remove the remaining foetus.

Alberta confessed to the mother that Portia gave her some medicine for abortion.

Portia on the other hand also mentioned Ama Nkrumah as the one who recommended the medicine.

After the D and C, the victim’s condition worsened, and so she was transferred to Deseret Hospital at Sowutuom, from where she was again transferred to Ridge Hospital for treatment.

The victim died while receiving treatment at the Ridge Hospital. The police, upon receiving the information, apprehended the two suspects for interrogation.

They would be processed for court soon, the police said.