Faeces Feeding Woman Remanded

Afua Patience

A KUMASI Circuit Court presided over by Mrs. Rita Agyeman-Budu has remanded into prison custody the woman who ordered her eight-year-old son to consume faeces a few weeks ago at Bohyen, a suburb of Kumasi.

Afia Nkrumah, 40, a petty trader aka Afia Serwaa also known as Afia Patience,   is a native of Abetifi in the Eastern Region of Ghana but resides with the victim at Bohyen.

She pleaded not guilty to the charge of torture and degrading treatment, contrary to section 13(1) of the Children's Act, 1998 (Act 560).

The suspect is to reappear on August 22, 2012.
Presenting the facts of the case to the court, Police Chief Inspector P.Y. Bebli said the complainant in the case, John Addai, 18, is a driver's mate living in the same vicinity with the suspect.

On August 4, 2012, at about 8:30pm, Victor Adomako- Bamfi, a witness in the case who also lived with the suspect at the same house, heard her shouting on top of her voice saying, 'Swallow, swallow'.

The police prosecutor said the witness initially thought that the suspect was giving her son a medicine to take so he ignored the gesture until he heard the victim crying persistently.

He said when the witness got to the scene he saw the victim with a black polythene bag allegedly containing the human excreta whilst the suspect was still beating him with a wire asking him to swallow what was in his mouth.

The complainant heard about the incident, confronted the suspect and rescued the victim from her grip.

According to the prosecutor, in the process of rescuing the child, the suspect attacked the complainant, leaving a mark on his right eye.

A complaint was lodged at the Suame Divisional Police Command and minutes later the suspect was arrested to face the law.

In her caution statement to the police, she denied the offence but was charged after investigations.

FROM James Quansah, Kumasi