A jaw-dropping video that captured two male adults subjecting a child to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment under the pretext of a punishment sparked a public outrage on Tuesday when it went viral on social media.
The video captured the child, a 12-year-old boy, completely naked and both wrists tied with a rope and hanged to the wooden bars of a roof.
His entire body was dangling to and fro in the air while a bare-chested male adult used a stick to beat him up red and blue without mercy. The male adult beating up the child did not exercise caution and gave no regard to which part of the naked body his stick landed.
The child was heard screaming in agony and pleading for mercy but the more he wailed in pain, the more the beatings landed all over his body.
Surprisingly, some other adults believed to be sane were present at the scene but all they did was to bring out their phones to video the ongoing cruelty with a glee on their mature faces.
After the bare chested man had exhausted his energy, another man appeared wearing a white shirt and holding a bowl that contained a green substance suspected to be grinded habanero pepper.
The white-shirted man approached the wailing child and started to rub the substance suspected to be grinded habanero pepper on the flogged body. Including his genitals, buttocks, chest and back.
The child was heard crying and begging as his hapless body continued to hand by the rope.
Within hours of the video going viral, a statement from the Ghana Police Service said the two adults involved in the abuse of the child have been have been arrested and the boy rescued.
The statement, signed by Superintendent Olivia E.T. Adiku, Head of the Public Affairs Unit of the Ghana Police Service in the Western Region said “the Police in Half Assini Division has rescued a 12-year-old boy who was seen in a viral video tied with a nylon rope, hanging on a roof of a building and being subjected to severe beatings by two adults for having stolen 200cedis at New Ankasa community near Elubo in the Western Region.
“Suspects Issah Morro age 58 years and Suleman Abdul Rashid 27 years who were seen in the video have been arrested”
According to the Police statement, Issah Morro and Suleman Abdul Rashid were being held in Police custody assisting investigation, while the child has received medical attention and handed over to his father.
It contained an assurance from the Ghana Police Service that the Service remain committed to the safety of the public and urged all to report any suspicious or harmful behavior promptly to the nearest Police Station.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has maintained that whereas disciplinary measures that causes pain are considered corporal punishment whether or not they cause physical injury and form of disciplinary measures that risk physical injury qualify as physical abuse.
Section 17 of the Children’s Act in Ghana makes it mandatory for any case of suspected child abuse, neglect, exploitation or abandonment to be reported to the Police Service.
