The incidence of defilement and rape, both major offences, has increased significantly in Accra despite stiff punishments meted out by the courts.

Defilement, which refers to child sex abuse, recorded 1,466 cases for the first nine months of the year as against 1,392 cases for the whole of 2013.

Rape also recorded 406 cases as at September 2014, compared to 361 cases recorded for the whole of last year in the Accra Region.

Assistant Superintendant of Police (ASP) Afia Tenge, Public Relations Officer of the Accra Region, stated that the increase in child abuse was as a result of more people reporting such crimes, as compared to the past.

According to her, due to intensive education and sensitisation on rape and defilement by Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU), an increasing number of people are encouraged to report such cases.

ASP Afia Tenge cautioned families not to seek out-of-court settlements with regard to sexual offences since they constitute major criminal offences that must be dealt with in accordance with the law.

The PRO also advised victims of rape and defilement not to clean themselves before they report the case. “In doing that, all the evidence is cleaned,” she added.

In a related development, the number of assault, stealing, threatening and fraud cases, which are minor offences, did not record any increases.

Assault recorded 49,362 cases from January to September 2014 as compared to 54,005 cases recorded for the whole of 2013.

Stealing recorded 41,512 cases from January to September 2014 as compared to a total of 43,031 cases recorded for 2013.

Threatening as at September 2014 recorded 17,017 cases as compared to what pertained in 2013, where 17,567 cases were recorded for the whole year.

Fraud recorded 16,036 from January to September as compared to 16,036 cases in 2013.