'Don't Protect Wife Beaters'

Community leaders have been urged to desist from protecting perpetrators of domestic violence.
The Volta Regional Co-ordinator of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSA), Assistant Superintendent of Police Rita Narh, who gave the advice said it is a crime to shield such people.
ASP Narh made the call when she delivered a paper on ‘institutional measures in place to support victims of abuse’ at an advocacy forum on gender-based violence here on Thursday.
There is the need for community leaders to partner the police administration to expose the perpetrators to ensure that such crimes were minimised, she said.
She expressed worry at the alarming rate of domestic violence and attributed it to lack of education awareness.The unit is to open more offices and desks in the region to make its services available to all.
ASP Narh said the unit will prosecute crimes that are related to gender-based violence to serve as deterrent to people who have the tendency to assault their spouses.
She said also that the Unit would continue to ensure that the Children’s and Juvenile Justice Acts were enforced to the latter to have children protected.
ASP Narh suggested that medical forms of victims of domestic violence should be processed free of charge to facilitate the prosecution of offenders.
She also appealed to the Ghana Education Service to consider transferring pupils who were defiled by teachers to defferent schools.