Out of 388 crime cases reported to the Tema Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) Ashaiman recorded 281 cases, the highest figure among the eight sub-divisions under the Ghana Police Service in Tema, and 15 more than the area recorded at the end of last year’s first quarter.
According to the report dated April 4, 2012 and signed by Mrs Rebecca Nyamah, the Tema Regional DOVVSU coordinator, assault led the crime chart in Ashaiman, recording 176 cases as compared to 162 recorded at the end of the 2011 first quarter.
While stealing, threat of harm and threat of death recorded 15 cases each, rape, offensive conduct, defilement, criminal abortion, causing damage and causing harm recorded 5, 7, 23, 2, 11 and 6 cases respectively.
The total number of Ashaiman cases sent to court was 12; the same number of cases pending trial. One hundred and forty-two cases are under investigation, with 90 cases closed; no accused person or suspect has been convicted yet.
The chart covered the Tema Unit, Tema Newtown, Sakumono, Ada, Prampram and Tema Community 11, all areas under the Tema Regional Police jurisdiction. Mrs Rebecca Nyamah, in an interview, expressed surprise at the rate at which assault continued to top crime cases in Ashaiman.
She said her outfit though logistically handicapped, visits schools and churches regularly to carry out sensitisation and education programmes to familiarise community members with the law and the need for all to exercise restraint. It also embarks on campaigns against assault and other categories of domestic violence at lorry stations and other public places, she said.
“But human beings would always want to test the law; and you know the law is straight and strict when it grips you,” she remarked.
On other related crime cases such as abortion, defilement and rape, Mrs Nyamah blamed the youth for abusing technology, explaining that the youth try to practice what they watch on the internet. She said,
“Usually when you see guys fidgeting with their phones, it is either they are watching pornographic materials or reading something about how to outwit an innocent person, and what they print on their minds are later manifested in their acts.”
The Tema DOVVSU Coordinator called for concerted efforts by parents, teachers, opinion leaders and the media, among others, to drum home the need for morality and tolerance. DOVVSU, she said, would continue to do its best,
“but until all these bodies come onboard to help us, we will continue to have such avoidable criminal cases confronting us.”
According to her, parts of Ashaiman have become high density areas, accounting for the high crime rate. Sakumono followed the crime chart with 39 reported cases, 31 more than the area recorded during the same period last year.
Source : THE FINDER
