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The Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service in the Northern Region recorded 514 abused domestic violence cases in 2013 as against 379 in 2012. Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Emmanuel Cudjoe Holortu, Assistant Northern Regional Co-ordinator of DOVVSU, told the GNA in an interview on Tuesday that the unit also recorded 400 cases in 2011 and 203 complaints were received in 2010. He said the Unit, out of the total number of domestic violence cases reported, physical assault was the highest figure of 163 last year as against 79 in 2012, while defilement stood at 38 against 23 in 2012. ASP Holortu said 74 cases of non-maintenance of children were recorded in 2013 and that of 2012 for the same offence was 65. He said only 46 out of the total number of cases received last year were processed for court while some of the cases were settled amicably. Some of the cases were not processed for court because most people especially the women did not want their husbands to be processed for court due to some cultural practices, which did not allow women to send their husbands or any family member to court. ASP Holortu said women were the most affected victims of all forms of the abuse reported cases in the Region and attributed the cases of domestic violence and other forms of abuses to lack of women empowerment. He said the DOVVSU in the past year, in collaboration with some NGOs in the Region, embarked on sensitization programmes to ensure that domestic violence cases in the region were reduced.