BECE Candidate Hospitalized After 5 Boys Allegedly ‘Gang-Raped’ Her

A 17-year old final year student of the Bene Afan International Junior High School at Nerebehi in the Atwima Nwabiagya District of the Ashanti Region, is battling for her life in the hospital after five young boys allegedly raped her.

The teenager, who is preparing for this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), has not been able to write the rest of her papers in the District Mock exams, conducted by the Ghana Education Service (GES).

The victim {name withheld} is on admission at the Afari Community Hospital.

She was lying on a bed at the hospital and surrounded by other relatives, as her visibly worried mother looked on.

The victim, who recounted her ordeal to Citi News, said she was lured by one of the suspects on a Saturday evening when she attended a wake-keeping ceremony in the area.

According to her, the suspects held her to the ground and took turns to forcefully have sex with her. She said the suspects threatened to kill her if she mentioned what happened to anyone.

“After the incident, they threatened and warned me not to mention it to anyone or they will kill me. I really struggled before reaching home on that day. I could not walk properly because I bled profusely from my private parts. Later when I got home, my brother saw me and informed my mother that I was lying at the back of the house. When my mother asked what the problem was I lied to her. I told her I had my period. If I knew my condition would have been this serious, I would have told her the truth,” she narrated.

The victim complained of abdominal and vaginal pains as well as a severe headache after she was overpowered by the five young boys and sexually assaulted.

She says the incident has affected her psychologically, physically and academically.

“I feel pains in my abdomen and my vagina. I have severe headache too and I feel so weak since the incident happen. I want the Police to deal with the perpetrators because they have really hurt me. Even the District Mock exams that are mandatory for candidates preparing for the BECE across the country, I have not been able to write because of what they have done to me,” she said.

The victim wants the police to bring the perpetrators to book.

Mother of the victim, (Name withheld), wants the suspects prosecuted after the parents of the suspects had the guts to attack them for reporting the matter to the police.

“When I saw the suspects in court, I felt sad for them. I would have asked for mercy for them, but after they raped my daughter, they came to our house with their relatives and rained insults on us for the reporting the matter to the police. They even damaged the glass window of my brother’s room. So my husband came back and felt our lives were not safe. So I want the law to take its course”, she said.

Proprietor of the victim’s school, Kpordzaye Emmanuel Yaw, says the school will put alternative measures in place to help the victim write her final exams.

The ages of the suspects have been given as 19 for the oldest, and 17 for the other four.

The Akropong Magistrate Court has since remanded three of them into police custody, with the other two currently at large.

Similar case in Kumasi in 2017

In 2017, a similar case was reported in Kumasi, in a case involving the alleged gang-rape of a minor by four teenagers.

The boys captured the act on video and circulated it on social media.

The teenagers, who are facing trial by a Juvenile Court, are yet to be punished as the case continues.

At the last sitting in February, a Kumasi court subpoenaed two witnesses to appear before it.

The two, the Unit Committee Chairman for Bantama Kwabena Boateng, and Yaw Amankwaa, the tenant in whose house the dastardly act was committed had all declined to willingly appear to testify.

Even the victim, according to reports, has also refused to cooperate with the prosecutors.