Couple fined 200,000 cedis for cruelty
Couple fined 200,000 cedis for cruelty
Mampong (Ashanti), 28th June 99 -
An emaciated five-year-old boy drew tears from a packed Asante-Mampong community tribunal when he told the tribunal about how a couple he stayed with confined him to a toilet where he slept and had his meals.
The couple, Florence Opare and her husband, Simon Agbeko, both farmers, pleaded guilty to two counts of "failing to supply another person with the necessaries of health and life" and offensive conduct conducive to the breach of peace.
The tribunal, presided over by Mr John Akpariba, sentenced them to a fine of 100,000 cedis each on the first count of failure to supply another person with the necessaries of health and life.
It ordered the couple to pay a compensation of 200,000 cedis to the boy or in default serve two years' imprisonment in hard labour.
It also ordered that the boy be sent to an orphanage.
The boy told the tribunal he was under-fed and physically tortured.
Police Inspector Francis Fiator told the tribunal that the boy's mother who has been divorced, dumped him on his father, a driver of Tema.
Florence, the aunt of the boy, brought him to Mampong to stay with the couple.
According to the prosecution, since his arrival at Mampong the boy was under-fed, malnourished and he developed "kwashiorkor".
Madam Margaret Navio, a health inspector with the environmental division at Mampong, spotted the child at the couple's residence, smeared with faeces, wet and shivering on June 12.
Madam Navio, the prosecution said, was touched by the plight of the child and, with the permission of the couple, washed him and later took him to the Mampong district hospital, where he was admitted.
According to the prosecution, the couple demanded that the boy be discharged from hospital because they cannot foot the hospital bills.
The couple were subsequently arrested and after interrogation, granted police inquiry bail.
He said the couple after this, went to Madam Navio's house and insulted her for being the cause of their arrest. The couple will re-appear before the tribunal for the second count of offensive conduct conducive to the breach of peace on Monday, July 12.
GRi…/