‘Suspected rapists walking freely?’

The six men arrested some four years ago by the police at Ehi, near Dzodze in the Ketu North District of the Volta Region, for allegedly gang-raping a 16-year-old Junior High School student are still walking freely in the community.This is because the docket on the case was still at the Attorney-General’s Department for years, awaiting advice, on the matter.

The department finally sent the bill of indictment to the Dzodze police in March this year.

However, the police has since been unable to put the accused  before the district court for committal proceedings.
The men  were said to have dragged the 16-year-old girl into a classroom, took turns to rape her and also filmed the sex acts with a cell phone.

The suspects, who were arrested hours after the incident, are Julius Donkor, alias Kapaya, 21, Paul Agumazor, alias Paulzor, 22, and Joshua Kpeli, alias Stigma, 21.

The rest are Innocent Alevi, alias Clerk, 19, Francis Sabla alias China, 19, and Miwoekpor Agbenyagah, alias Agbey, 20.

They allegedly  trailed the girl who was returning home from a funeral at the suburb of Higa, and at one stage, Kpeli offered to escort her home since it was late in the night, and the unsuspecting girl accepted his offer.

Unknown to the girl, Kpeli had already signaled the other suspects to follow them.
On reaching the Kaledzi ‘C’ School, the suspects dragged the helpless girl into one of the classrooms and forced her to lie in a supine position on one of the desk before taking turns to rape her.

The police said that while the girl was going through the ordeal, Agumazor at one stage used his cellular phone to record the defilement acts.

Meanwhile, Kpeli kept watch over the school park to alert the other suspects in case someone was passing by.

After satisfying themselves, the suspects warned the girl never to disclose what they did to her to anyone or else she would suffer a curse from the ‘alorkpli’ shrine.

The victim reported the case to police at the Ehi, after which she was accompanied by the police to the St. Anthony Hospital at Dzodze where she was treated and discharged.

The police said that the suspects who were later arrested admitted having sex with the girl in their caution statements, with five of them blaming Kpeli as the one who initiated the idea.

FROM ALBERTO MARIO NORETTI, HO