Five (5) Boys Gang Rape 20-Yr-Old Girl

A 20-year-old lady has been hospitalized after she was allegedly gang-raped by five men - an action which was videoed in a dark room at Sabon Zongo in Accra. The victim, currently on admission at the Korle-Bu Teach�ing Hospital, according to reports, was raped by the suspects around 5:00pm on October 17, 2014 in the house of one of the suspects. She is said to have attempted committing suicide after the inci�dent. The suspects, which she identi�fied as Shamsu, Awal, Fithiya, Victor and Wahab, are reportedly, walking freely on the streets of Sabon- Zongo because the Police have not been able to apprehend them. The five suspects are said to have threatened to post the video of the victim on the internet if she contin�ues with the case at the police station. Narrating the ordeal to 'Daily Guide', Mohammed Yussif, aggrieved father of the victim, said the family received informa�tion about the sexual assault the same day and reported the matter to the police. He said, "We were directed to the Ministries branch of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) by the Korle-Bu police for investigations after a medical form was issued to the victim." After lodging the complaint to the Ministries DOVVSU, the unit sent a signal to Korle-Bu police for the immediate arrest of the sus�pects but since then this has not been possible. Narrating how the incident occurred, the victim (name withheld) who spoke on her hospital bed at the Korle-Bu hospital where she is currently on admission, said she lived in the same area with the suspects. "Awal was my classmate and it was through him that I became friends with the other suspects." She narrated that on October 13, when she was celebrating her birthday, Awal in the company of the other four attended the party. "After the party, Awal told me that they had bought a gift for me but had forgotten it in the house so anytime I was free, I could pass by his house for it." On October 17, 2014, the vic�tim said she met Awal alone at a nearby internet cafe and after a chat, he suggested that she fol�lowed him to his house for the gift. The victim said she obliged and when she entered Awal's room the other four were already seated in there waiting. "There, the five boys includ�ing Awal descended upon me and raped me in turns while they videoed the action," she said. After the act, the five men left the room and went into hiding. The victim said she reported the matter to her family who in turn reported it to the Korle-Bu police. "One inspector Owusu who was handling the case told us to arrest the boys ourselves and bring them to the station after efforts to apprehend them had proved futile," she said. "Not satisfied, the suspects, upon hearing that the police were after them, stormed my house to threaten my mother that if I don't come for them to sleep with me the second time, they were going to put the video on the internet," she added. Meanwhile, when the paper contacted DSP Peter Yembilla, the Korle-Bu District Police Com�mander, he said the suspects had fled the area and were now want�ed. "The police have been to the area on two occasions to look for the boys but nothing has come out of the search so far," he said, adding that "one difficulty the police are facing is that those in the area who know the suspects often shield them." He called on residents to help the police to apprehend the sus�pects.