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Heads or tail, gay doctor has questions to answer- Kofi Bentil

By Myjoyonline.com|Nathan Gadugah
General News Heads or tail, gay doctor has questions to answer- Kofi Bentil
OCT 21, 2014 LISTEN

A legal practitioner, Kofi Bentil says the 'gay doctor' accused of sodomising a 16-year-old SHS student has questions of law to answer.

"In my mind there is a strong prima facie case" against Dr Sulley Ali-Gabass, the lawyer told Joy News' Dzifa Bampoh, Tuesday, while discussing the scandal involving the senior medical doctor at Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital in Takoradi.

Dr Ali-Gabass admitted in an encounter with Joy FM's investigative journalist Manasseh Azure-Awuni that he once had carnal knowledge of the boy, even though it was a mistake.

"I don't know what to do. With this sexual thing some of us are trying our best. It's like being born with it. That urge is there,"  he said when the question was put to him.

But the victim, whose name has been withheld, had a different story to tell- a story which began with his acceptance of a friendship request from the doctor on facebook.

He told Azuri-Awuni the doctor had sex with him on five different occasions, three of which were  in a car and the other two in the doctor's residence at Alajo in Accra.

His anal region has been infected, forcing doctors to perform a surgery in order to save his life.

According to him, he was 15 years old when the doctor first had sex with him. He is now 16 and bed ridden after the surgery.

He has another headache to contend with after he was diagnosed of having HIV.

He accused the doctor of infecting him with the virus, an accusation the doctor has been quick to dismiss, insisting he- the doctor- is HIV negative.

On Joy FM's newsnite programme Kofi Bentil said the doctor has three possible charges to answer- defilement, unnatural canal knowledge and causing harm.

He explained that if it was true that the first encounter was when the victim was 15, then the doctor could be held for defilement.

Quoting section 104 (1) of the Criminal Code, Bentil said the nature of the intercourse with 16-year-old is one of "unatural canal knowledge" punishable under the law.

Section 104  states: "Whoever has an unnatural carnal knowledge of any person of sixteen years or over with his consent is guilty of a misdemeanour." 

While (1) (a) of the same code, which makes reference to sodomy, states, “Whoever has unnatural carnal knowledge of any person of the age sixteen or over without his consent shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term of not less than five years and not more than twenty-five years."

Kofi Bentil said with the boy's anal region destroyed by the act, the gay doctor may as well be held for causing harm.

He said even if the boy consented to the sex, he could not have consented to the resultant harm he suffered as a result of the sex.

He said apart from medical condition, it is not permissible under the law for one to consent to another person causing bodily harm to him.

Kofi Bentil said Dr Ali-Gabass' admission of guilt is in itself "sufficient evidence against him."

He charged CHRAJ and the Social Welfare Department to take up the matter.

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