Child-friendly court tries 249 defilement cases since 2018
The Child-Friendly Gender-Based Violence Court has handled 249 rape and defilement cases of children since its establishment in December 2018 with accused persons successfully prosecuted.
Ms Hilda Mensah, a Child Protection Specialist with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), who disclosed that said the objective of the court was to reduce the trauma which children experienced when testifying, especially when a close family member or even a parent was involved.
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Ms Mensah said apart from that, the child-friendly court ensured that children’s rights were protected while justice was being served.
She said in the past when the court had not been refurbished with the needed equipment, child victims of sexual violence faced intimidation from offenders/ accused persons and could sometimes not testify.
Ms Mensah said for that reason, judges, registrars and court staff had been trained to handle child victims of sexual violence.
The Child Protection Specialist said the refurbished courtroom was located on the premises of the Supreme Court and had been equipped with child specific materials such as dolls with external male and female features that made it easy for children to describe what happened to them, other materials were drawing materials to help children communicate better.
The main court room.
She said the court had three main features, a waiting room, the main court room and a side room where the victim sat away from the suspected perpetrator.
Ms Mensah said the court was provided with a two-way Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) camera which allowed a child in a holding room to testify to the hearing of people in the main court room without facing the accused person directly.
Dolls with external male and female features that helps children to describe what happened to them.
Every year, the Police Service and DOVVSU registers an average of 15,000 cases involving children who are victims of crimes and juvenile offenders (children who have committed crimes).
In its 2017 Annual Report, the police recorded 1,686 cases of child sexual abuse (defilement) and 514 cases of rape and defilement.
