Accra, Feb. 23, GNA - A 27-year-old trader, who allegedly subjected her six-year-old nephew to persistent torture at East Legon in Accra, was on Wednesday admitted to a 50 million-cedi bail by an Accra Circuit Court.

Helen Sena Nyarko, who had been on remand since January 19; pleaded not guilty to the charge of causing harm. She is to reappear on March 21.

At the last sitting, Chief Inspector Lawrence Gbele prayed the court presided over by Mr Kwame Asiedu to remand Helena while the Police observed the health of the boy, who was receiving treatment at the Police Hospital in Accra.

The victim who was brought to court looked healthy. Soon after the case was called, the Prosecution requested that the case be heard in camera as the victim was a minor, which the Court obliged.

Chief Inspector Gbele, who narrated the facts of the case, had stated that Helena brought the boy from Jasikan in the Volta Region to stay with her.

He said since the boy arrived in Accra, his aunt had subjected him to torture and other maltreatment leading to bruises all over his body, broken arms, bloodshot eyes and a deep cut on his head. Chief Inspector Gbele said Helen sometimes grounded pepper and smeared it on the wounds, eyes and other parts of his body and kept him in confinement for long periods. He said the ill treatment of the boy caught the attention of sympathisers, who reported the plight of the boy to the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit of the Police Service.