The Tema Regional Office of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service, recorded 1,539 criminal cases in 2011 as against 1,238 in 2010, an increase of 301 cases.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Rebecca Nyamah, Tema Regional Co-ordinator of DOVVSU who disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency on Thursday, said out of the 1,539 cases for last year, as many as 1,504 were found to be true cases.

DSP Nyamah said 94 of these true cases were sent to court, with only four discharged, while 54 of them were still pending.

She said as many as 1,114 of the cases were still under investigations, while 296 were closed.

The DOVVSU Regional Co-ordinator indicated that the Ashaiman Office alone recorded 975 and 852 of the cases in 2011 and 2010 respectively.

DSP Nyamah further stated that the Sakumono office also received 154 cases, while the Tema main and the Tema New Town offices recorded 138 and 109 cases respectively out of last year’s figure.

She indicated that convicted cases for last year totaled 36, as against 20 cases in 2010, adding that some of the cases reported included assault, stealing, rape, threat of death, and offensive conduct.

Others, she said, were defilement, criminal abortion, child stealing, and attempted suicide.

DSP Nyamah disclosed that assault cases topped the records with 846, followed by 155 defilement cases, with 136 threat of harm, 85 stealing and 65 threat of death cases following in that order.

She attributed the increase in the number of cases received to the intensification of her outfit’s outreach educational programmes.

"It shows that more people have become aware and are prepared to report domestic violence to the Police, instead of shielding the perpetrators", she said.

The DOVVSU Regional Co-ordinator further added that population growth due to migration to some of the towns in the Region, especially Ashaiman, could also account for the increase.

She accused the media of contributing negatively to the increase in criminal activities, due to excessive alcohol advertisements, which in her view, led to its abuse by the youth who committed most of the crimes under the influence of alcohol and other intoxicating substances.

DSP Nyamah, therefore, appealed to the media to educate the youth on the nagative consequences of criminal activities on their future lives.