Don’t settle child abuse cases in homes – Chief Justice
The Chief Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah has advised traditional authorities to desist from settling cases of child abuse and sexual violence at home.
He reminded them the 1992 constitution did not allow chiefs and queens to do so and urged them to report such cases to the Police for the law to take its course on offenders.
Justice Anin-Yeboah gave the advice when he inaugurated a child-friendly Gender-based Violence Court at Dormaa-Ahenkro in the Dormaa Central Municipality of the Bono Region.
The UNICEF refurbished the Dormaa Circuit Court and equipped it with child-friendly equipment including; testifying and children playing rooms with books and toys to meet the desired standards.
“Chiefs and queens must not try to intervene when there are child and sexual abuse cases”, Justice Anin-Yeboah stated, indicating the interest of the child must always be paramount”.
He explained as the embodiment of the people, the judiciary would always require the support and cooperation from traditional authorities in handling cases of sexual and gender-based violence that happened in local communities.
Justice Anin-Yeboah explained the judiciary was going through vigorous reformation to make justice delivery accessible to all and commended UNICEF and its partners for their continuous support to the judiciary.
Earlier, Madam Justina Owusu-Banahene, the Bono Regional Minister urged the public to remain vigilant and feed the Police with information about people with questionable characters as well as cases of domestic violence.
Osagyefo Osaedeeyo Agyeman-Badu II, the Paramount Chief of Dormaa Traditional Area commended the government, saying the judicial system had seen a level of transformation and improvement.
“If the government does something wrong we criticize, so it is also good to commend the government when it does something good”, Osagyefo Dr Agyeman-Badu II also the President of the Bono Regional House of Chiefs indicated.