A thirty nine year old labourer working with a waste management company in Wa has been arrested and accused of defiling four young girls between the ages of 20 and 12 years, at different times and locations. The accused, Nurideen, popularly called I. K. Opoku, has been placed on remand after he pleaded not guilty at the Wa High Court.
Narrating the facts of the case, ASP Emmanuel Mwinsori, the regional police head in charge of Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Upper West Regional Police Command, said the victim aged 11 is a pupil of Falahia Primary School living with her parents at Nayiri, a suburb of Wa. He said the accused lives in the same neighbourhood with the victim’s parents.
According to ASP Mwinsori, on one of the days in October 2011 about 9:40pm, the suspect, Nurideen a. k. a I.K Opoku contacted the victim and her cousin after spotting them in the neighbourhood and lured them to his room under the pretext of sending them. The accused then went out of his way to request from the victim and her cousin to have sex with him for some financial reward, but the children refused and requested that the accused release them to go home.
He said while detaining the children in his room, the children pleaded with Nurideen to allow them to go home of but he would not budge. He said a co-tenant, Saharata Kundorbour, entered the accused’s room and met the children. He said the accused took to a violent behaviour and vehemently and forcibly asked the co-tenant to leave his room as he had an important issue to discuss with the victims.
The regional police commander said when Saharata Kundorbour left, the accused then pulled the victim to his room towards the curtains that partitioned his room and forcibly had sex with the victim while the cousin of the victim waited at the entrance of his room. The accused having satisfied his sexual lust with the victim, he pounced on the victim’s cousin by pulling them out of the room only for them to escape.
The police officer said on 6th October 2011 at about 1pm, the victim went back to the accused to honour the financial reward he promised her. The accused then took advantage of the situation and had sex with her again without using condom after which he warned her not to disclose her ordeal to anyone.
He further revealed that on the 14th of October 2011, the victim realized some drops of blood coming from her private part. This forced her to narrate her ordeal to her sister, Nasara Eliasu. The sister then brought the victim to DOVVSU in Wa.
A police medical form was then issued for the victim to go to the hospital for treatment and report back for further action. While waiting for the victim’s medical report, information filtered in to DOVVSU which revealed that, the accused had allegedly had sex with three other children between the ages of ten and twelve years.
When DOVVSU made further enquiries by contacting all the three children, they all confirmed that the accused has had sexual intercourse with them on several occasions. They also said the accused on most occasions had sex with them one after the other without using a condom after which he gave them Ghc.1.00 each.
On the 14th of October 2011, the accused was arrested and detained. In his caution statement to the police, he denied the offence, claiming that he knows some of the victims but has never had any sexual relations with any one of them. He also claimed that two of the victims came and pleaded with him to have sex with them but he refused.
After thorough a investigation by the police, the accused, Nurideen a.k.a I.K was charged with the offence.