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| James Nahyi |
A SENIOR Staff of Christian Council of Ghana, Tamale,
James Nahyi popularly known as “Odenden” is reported to have forcibly slept
with an unsuspecting married woman (name withheld), who happens to be his
former school mate.
The alleged rapist, who was pronounced guilty of the
rape scandal by the Paramount Chief of Tamale, Naa Dakpema Alhassan Dawuni and
his Elders on January 30th 2015, now have another hurdle to clear as
the angry husband of the victim is seeking for his immediate removal from the
Christian Council of Ghana.
James Nahyi was sentenced by the Dakpema for not only
flouting the traditional laws of Dagbon, but for causing emotional trauma and
distress as well as defiling the matrimonial oath of the couple and disrespecting
the dignity of the woman. He was then fined to provide two fowls, a goat and
two bottles of schnapps among others for rituals to appease the land and the
gods of Dagbon.
The husband of the victim, Mr. Peter Asiamah Yeboah, a
businessman in Kumasi told Savannahnews that he wanted nothing
but a stiffer punishment and public exposure to deter the “unremorseful James”
from visiting other unsuspecting or innocent married women with his
“uncontrolled sexual desire”.
According to him, although he was happy about the way
the Chief of Tamale handled the issue and how he was able to cause James Nahyi
to admit his guilt, he and the victim were still not satisfied with the final
judgement or the fine slapped on the accused, which he said was not deterrent enough.
Savannahnews gathered that there was no
compensation whatsoever given to the victim or any formal apology to her or the
husband, and because of that the alleged rapist still does not show any regret
for his action.
The husband, Mr. Asiamah Yeboah told the paper that
after the judgement was passed by the Dakpema, the accused person had
consistently been sending some insulting and provoking text messages to him
some of which read “I pity you”, “I believe when you see your wife or hear my
name your heartbeat goes up” and “Forgive yourself for allowing your wife into
my hands” among others.
He said that the frequent text messages and the
refusal of James to even show a little remorse had always put his wife in a
very traumatic mood and causing her to cry almost every time.
He asserted that the “bizarre circumstance” under
which his beloved and trusted wife was raped by James Nahyi had caused her (the
victim) to suddenly become a high blood pressure patient as a result of the
traumatic moment she went through.
According to him, the behavior of James Nahyi did not
only portray him as a “mad dog” but also as a “monumental disgrace to the
Christian Council of Ghana, society, humanity and the Christian fraternity”.
Mr. Yeboah who has also sent a copy of his petition to the office of the
Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection and the Commission on Human
Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) is therefore demanding the Christian
Council of Ghana to sack the alleged rapist with immediate effect in order to
protect the image of the council and also bring justice to the victim.
“People like James Nahyi ought to be exposed to
prevent other unsuspecting women from crossing his way”.
According to the husband, the woman who is a mother of
two was still battling it hard to overcome the trauma and the shame James had
put her into.
Meanwhile, Savannahnews
gathered that the rape incident happened somewhere in 2012 when the victim, who
is based in Kumasi, visited her twin sister in Tamale with her two children.
During her stay in Tamale, the husband said, the
victim and the children used to spend the day in her twin sister’s house and
then go to sleep at a different location. Eventually the victim in the company
of her twin sister met James Nahyi whom they knew during their school days and
also stays in the same neighbourhood.
He (James Nahyi) was always ready
to drive the victim and her children to their sleeping place every night. On
the day of the alleged rape incident, the victim, according to Mr. Yeboah after
reaching their destination (sleeping place), remembered that she had forgotten
the children's breakfast for the next morning. At that time the children
were already sleeping so James Nahyi offered to send my wife back to her
sister’s place to pick up the food. My wife said that after picking the items
at the sister's place James, said that he had to pick some documents from his
house along the way for some work to be done in the office since he will be
travelling early the next morning. Upon reaching his house he
asked my wife to make herself comfortable in a chair whilst he looks
for the said document. My wife, sensing no danger, said immediately
she sat on the chair the said James pounced on her to forcibly have
sexual intercourse with her. All attempts and struggles to stop could not work
as James overpowered her, muzzled her, almost suffocated
and raped her”. She felt seriously traumatized but was very ashamed
to tell anybody including me. However, a high blood pressure she developed as a
result of that encounter kept on worsening her health condition whenever she
remembered of it. She therefore gathered the courage and informed me”.
Mr.
Peter Asiamah Yeboah told the paper that he could not doubt his wife or take
any action against her, simply because I trust my wife very much as a virtuous
and God fearing woman”.
When contacted by Savannahnews, the rape
suspect, James Nahyi refused to speak about the matter. After several attempts
by the blogger he still would not give any account but could only deny ever sleeping
with the victim or being summoned before the Chief of Tamale.
An Officer at the Tamale Metropolitan Office of
Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU), Corporal Imoro Yussif
confirmed his outfit could not readily handle the case because the victim
failed to report on time and could not also present any impeccable evidence.
“The incident happened in 2012 but they came to report it after two or three
years so we advised them to allow the sleeping dog to lay but we later heard
they had sent it to the Dakpema so that is all we know about the case”.
In an interview with Savannahnews via
telephone, the General Secretary of the Christian Council of
Ghana, Rev. Dr. Opuni Frimpong confirmed receiving a copy of the petition from
the husband of the rape victim, Mr. Peter Asiamah Yeboah.
He said that rape case was a criminal issue and that
the Council would not connive with that, but appealed to the victim and the
husband to give him a little more time to investigate the matter.
The Chairman of the Christian Council of Ghana told
the paper that he was already arranging a meeting between the victim, the
husband and the accused in Accra before any other actions could be taken.
He however expressed worry as to why the matter should
come to the media before the end of their investigations.
The Paramount Chief of Tamale, Naa Dakpema Alhassan
Dawuni also confirmed to Savannahnews that he and his elders
sat on the rape case involving James Nahyi and the married woman three times
before the final judgement was pronounced.
He was therefore very angry about why James should
blatantly deny ever coming before his court concerning the rape case. The Chief
said that he could not take it kindly with James because he did not want to
tolerate such immorality in his community and warned other young men who go
after married women to desist.
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