Woman demands justice for burnt son

A 31-YEAR-old trader is demanding justice for her 10-year-old son who was burnt with fuel allegedly by a teenager at Azumah Farms, near Ngleshie Amanfro, in the Ga South Municipality in the Greater Accra Region.

Ms Charity Amankwah said the suspect involved in the case was currently walking free after he and his father reported once to the Amanfro Police Station where the matter was reported.

“Now my son is badly burnt with sores and scars on parts of his body. Since the incident happened on March 20, 2021, myself and my husband, a taxi driver, have spent over GH¢4,000 to cater for his medical treatment,” Ms Amankwah told the Daily Graphic.

Promise

She said although the police had promised to send the matter to court, nothing had happened to that effect, and “we don’t know what is happening. The police authority must act on this case because it is taking too long, and my son who is in Class Four is suffering and cannot go to school”.

Explaining how the incident happened, Ms Amankwah said at about 6 p.m. on Saturday, March 20, 2021, her son went on an errand in the neighbourhood, and when he got to the back of the house he saw the suspect and some other boys standing by a fire they had lighted.

Suspect

“He said when he got there, one of the boys called Hammer had a broken bottle with petrol in it burning with fire, and that as soon as he saw him coming he threw it at him, causing him to burn from the head, side of the face, ear and all the way to his back and buttocks,” she said.

Ms Amankwah said all the children standing around confirmed that her child did not do anything to warrant the action from the older boy.

The suspect, she said, knew her son and herself very well since they lived in the same area, stressing that after the incident she rushed the son to the hospital and then reported the matter to the police on Monday, March 22, 2021.

“We could not go to the police station the following day which was a Sunday because we were still in the hospital with the boy. We, therefore, decided to go the next day, Monday,” she explained.

At the police station, she alleged, the suspect’s father told the police that he was 14 years old, meaning he was a minor.

Crime officer

When contacted, the Crime Officer of the Amanfro District Police Station, Deputy Superintendent of Police Amaniampong Anokye, confirmed that the matter had been reported to the police station, and that he had met the parties on it.

All things being equal, he said, the matter would be sent to court on Thursday, April 16, 2021.

He said the suspect involved in the case was a minor, and so had to appear before a juvenile court in Accra which normally sat once a week on Thursdays.

That, he said, had led to the delay in the prosecution of the case.