Concealment Of Crime At Mepe: Alleged Intentional Burning Of A Three-Month-Old Baby With Hot Water, An Open Letter to IGP

IGP, my greetings to you. I write to you in my capacity as a man of straw to report something I see as a concealment of crime at Mepe in the North Tongu District in Volta Region. IGP, it is trite that a prohibited physical act and accused’s intention of engaging in the prohibited act constitute what we call crime, mindful of the fact that the accused or suspect is not doli incapax.

About a month ago, it was alleged that a Togolese woman by name Beybi who resides at Mepe poured hot water on a three-month baby girl thereby subjecting the baby to burns in her private part and her buttocks. You can see that on the cover picture of this open letter. My delay in writing to you publicly stemmed from my conviction that your officers at Mepe and Aveyime would take this matter a bit more seriously and with prompt action in the name of criminal justice but this turned out to be a mirage.

IGP, I have gathered that Esther or Aku who is the mother of the three months baby is a 14-year-old girl and a maid who lives with Madam Beybi at Mepe. It is alleged that Madam Beybi brought another teenager by name Daniel who ended up impregnating Esther after which Daniel bolted back to Togo.

IGP, it has been widely alleged by some neighbours at Mepe-Avukpoe that Madam Beybi has been subjecting Esther to numerous tortures including excessive beatings and other physical abuses.

IGP, even after Esther gave birth to her baby, Madam Beybi allegedly continues to torture Esther and her baby including pouring hot water on the baby who sustained burns on her buttocks and in her vagina. It is equally alleged that Madam Beybi compels Esther to bath her baby with water from a urine bowl Madam Beybi uses. My information is that whereas some neighbors are lip-tight on the abusive deeds of Madam Beybi, others are willing to speak to the authorities regarding her abusive behaviour.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION
The incident came to the attention of the Hon. DCE, Victoria Yawa Amefadzi Doe and the Assemblyman of Mepe Central Electoral Area, Hon. Amos Ahorsu (a.k.a Borlor) through whose instrumentality an attempt was made by the Police to arrest Madam Beybi for investigations. It was reported that at the time of effecting the arrest, Madam Beybi fainted and was admitted at Battor Catholic Hospital and later discharged but the Police took no other steps to arrest Madam Beybi. What I know is that even while she was on admission, Madam Beybi could have been placed under arrest to be released to the Police when she was discharged but that did not happen and she walks free even though she is suspected of subjecting Esther’s three months baby to hot water burns as shown in the cover photograph of my open letter to you.

CONCEALMENT OF CRIME
IGP, harbouring a criminal or concealment of crime is itself a criminal offence because Section 25 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) states, “A person who, knowingly or having reason to believe that any other person has committed or has been convicted of a criminal offence, aids, conceals or habours that person, with the purpose of enabling that person to avoid lawful arrest or the execution of the sentence, commits a misdemeanour”.

IGP, as if the foregoing deeds of those (including Mr. Wilson Dziwornu Gakpetor) helping Madam Beybi at Mepe to escape criminal justice did not constitute concealment of crime, then I do not know what else it should be termed.

These indigenes of Mepe including Mr. Gakpetor think that this matter must not be handled by the Police even though it is in the nature of the criminal offence of causing unlawful harm to a three-month-old baby. Mr. Gakpetor and others who think like him opined that because another attempt by the Police to arrest Madam Beybi will make her to faint or collapse again, the matter should be abandoned or shelved. IGP Yorhunu, the rhetorical question I ask is that is Madam Beybi’s life more important than the lives of Esther and her baby?

IGP, it would interest you to note that Mr. Wilson Dziwornu Gakpetor who is part of the crime concealment agenda is the Secretary of a group at Mepe called Mepe Reform Union. One may ask that how then is he reforming Mepe with the concealment of crime?

Another worrying situation is that people who think that this matter should not be handled by the Police had compelled Esther, the teenage lactating mother to grant an interview at Dela Radio, a local radio station in North Tongu that she (Esther) and not her guardian, Madam Beybi poured the hot water on Esther’s baby. IGP, Esther is about 14 years and therefore a juvenile, because she is below 17 years and not below 12 years so the penal system could make her answer certain questions regarding subjecting her own baby to hot water burns. That is if she actually did so. But IGP, I am of the firm opinion that Esther made those assertions under duress because those who think that Madam Beybi should NOT be prosecuted for the offence might have impressed upon the teenage lactating mother to admit the offence herself to exculpate Madam Beybi. Interestingly IGP, Madam Beybi who allegedly poured hot water on the baby and caused physical harm to it currently walks free after the aborted attempt by the Police to arrest her and a Police Officer in the District conformed this to me. You may want to question the Police Commander of the District why the said suspect still walks free.

IGP, if these moves by people who do not think that Madam Beybi should be prosecuted for the offence are not concealing the crime, then I do not know how else I should describe it.

Another disturbing situation Mr. IGP, is that even after the baby sustained the hot water burns, neither Madam Beybi nor Esther herself ensured that the baby was taken to the hospital for treatment. Per my investigations, it was a good Samaritan by name Mr. Senanu Zaforyi who ensured that the injured baby was taken to the hospital for treatment. Even earlier on when Mr. Senanu Zaforyi questioned Madam Beybi regarding the development, she reportedly fainted. One may suggest without a scintilla of doubts that Madam Beybi may be feigning fainting or sudden collapse to escape the penal arms of criminal justice.

IGP, for the avoidance of doubt, what Madam Beybi allegedly did to the three-month old baby is a criminal offence per Section 71 (1)(a) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) which states, “A person commits a misdemeanour who unlawfully exposes a child to danger or abandons a child under twelve years”.

IGP, Section 296 (4) of the Criminal and Other Offences (Procedure) Act, 1960 (Act 30) also provides, “Where a criminal offence which is not an offence mentioned in subsection (5), is declared by an enactment to be a misdemeanour and the punishment for that offence is not specified, a person convicted of that offence is liable to a term of imprisonment not exceeding three years”. IGP, my checks revealed that the offence of Exposing a child to danger does not form part of the offences mentioned under Sub section 5 of Section 296 of Act 30 hence if Madam Beybi is found guilty of exposing the three-month-old baby to the danger of hot water burns, then she is likely to be given the custodial punishment for a period of three years.

IGP, Article 12 (1) of the 1992 Constitution which is the supreme law of Ghana provides poignantly that “The fundamental human rights and freedoms enshrined in this Chapter shall be respected and upheld by the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary and all other organs of government and its agencies and, where applicable to them, by all natural and legal persons in Ghana, and shall be enforceable by the Courts as provided for in this Constitution”.

MY APPEAL TO YOU IGP
Much as I do not think whatsoever that the Police of Aveyime in North Tongu are part of the crime concealment agenda so far as the alleged hot water burning of the three months old baby by Madam Beybi is concerned, I think the Police are too slow in handling the matter hence I call on you to intervene swiftly so that Madam Beybi and those assisting her to conceal the criminal offence against the baby are not left off the hook of criminal justice. It is my ardent hope that you will not hesitate to follow up on this matter.

~Asante Sana~
Philip Afeti Korto
Hospital Administrator
afetikorto@yahoo.com

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