A 20-year-old woman, Judith Yaakuma, who had part of her left ear cut off by a police officer using a plier, has received legal assistance through the intervention of the Crime Check Foundation (CCF).
“There have been new developments, the girl has been granted bail through CCF intervention; we got a lawyer for her,” Alhaji Ibrahim Oppong Kwarteng, Executive Director, CCF, told the Ghana News Agency on Thursday.
Until now, he added, “The girl didn’t have a lawyer, and now we [Crime Check] got her a lawyer,” stressing that “all this while the woman appeared in court without the sitting judge knowing that her [victim] ear was chopped off with an implement by the very police officer handling her case.”
Though, he noted that the victim had been granted bail she was still in police custody as lawyers work around to meet the stringent bail conditions. Besides, considering the traumatic experience the victim had endured, he said it was crucial to provide her with urgent psychological assistance.
He also stated that the police administration has acted by withdrawing the police officer, Clement Suputour, of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service from handling the case and handing it over to a new CID police officer.
Alhaji Ibrahim further said his crime prevention organisation was determined to seek justice for the 20-year-old woman and to ensure that the accused police officer faced appropriate consequences for his actions.
As the case unfolds, he said CCF will follow and monitor the developments closely, hoping that this incident will eventually lead to the delivery of justice and improved police conduct for greater protection of citizens’ rights.
Earlier on Tuesday, the GNA reported about the incident, detailing how the victim had visited the Tema Community 8 Police Station on January 30, 2024, to inquire about her boyfriend’s arrest and detention.
However, the CID police officer arrested her and then used a pair of pliers to cut off a portion of her left ear, leaving her traumatised and in excruciating pain.
The cruel and wicked conduct was condemned by Crime Check in a statement released on Tuesday, which described the act as appalling, horrific, and said that it was an egregious abuse of power.
GNA
DL/AD
16 March 2024
