A couple in South Suntreso in the Ashanti Region have been jailed eight years each for cutting a little boy’s fingers off.
The incident happened about five years ago and the trial of the case has passed through the hands of two Circuit Court judges.
On Friday, June 26, 2020, the presiding judge of the Kumasi Circuit Court, Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, found Oduro Oti and his wife, Rita, guilty of all five counts.
They are; conspiracy to commit crime, causing harm, conspiracy to commit assault, assault and exposing a child to danger.
They are to serve eight years in jail each in addition to 50 thousand cedis compensation to the boy.
A bench warrant has been issued for the arrest of Nana Oti Oduro, one of the convicts who failed to show up.
Five years ago, then one-year-old Junior’s sored fingers were amputated. They were found to be almost dropping due to pain inflicted on him by adults, including his biological father, who was supposed to provide him love and care.
Fast-forward, he is now six years and has forgotten why he has no fingers on his left hand.
Junior’s case was monitored and followed by Multimedia’s Erastus Asare Donkor and the boy told him of his fears when facing his peers with amputated fingers.
“I don’t want to make everyone see it. Because in my school, they laugh at it,” Junior said.
Junior was physically abused for nine months. He was rescued and later adopted by the Ashanti Female Lawyers Association. He has since been in the care of this lawyer, with financial support from some anonymous members of the group.
“I am sad and stiil happy because 8 years is good…If it wasn’t for God, what would this boy become,” his foster mother said.
The road to justice for junior started in 2016, the process going through two different judges until judgment on Friday, June 26, 2020.
