COUPLE ARRESTED: for causing harm to granddaughter (page 3)

Two grandparents have found themselves on the wrong side of the law for allegedly compelling their 11-year-old granddaughter who is a bedwetter to sit in a basin of hot water, an action which caused serious injuries to her buttocks and rendered her.


The grandparents, Christina Torkonu, 50, a fish trader, and James Agbamavo, 65, an electrician, were arrested by the police following a tip-off by an informant.

The two grandparents (left) and the burnt girl (right) Picture credit: myjoyonline.com

According to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mrs Margaret Sapati Agbemabiese, the officer in charge of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU), Kpeshie Division, the informant reported the incident on January 8, 2013 after the grandparents had kept the girl, a class three pupil of Dai Salam Primary at Teshie, in the room in an attempt to conceal the crime.

She said the police responded swiftly to the information and with the help of the informant managed to locate the house, where the two suspects were arrested.

Mrs Sapati said during interrogation, Ms Torkonu confirmed to the police that they had, indeed, made their granddaughter to sit in the hot water.

Ms Torkonu also confirmed that the girl sustained severe wounds and that she was in the room.

“When Ms Torkonu brought out the victim, we noticed that the victim could not walk or sit,” she said.

She said, indeed, a photograph showed the victim lying on her stomach with blistered buttocks covered in gentian violet.

Mrs Sapati said the injury was so bad that the victim struggled to attend the call of nature.

She said the suspects were immediately arrested and the victim sent to the Police Hospital where she is receiving medical attention.

Mrs Sapati said the police were making attempts to get the victim’s biological mother to stay with her after she had recovered or she would be sent to the Department of Social Welfare.

She said the law would deal ruthlessly with persons who caused bodily harm to children, irrespective of their relationship with the children.

“Whether you are a grandmother, grandfather, mother, father, brother or sister, the law will deal severely with you. We need to protect our children because they are the future of this country. Who knows what this girl will become tomorrow? You don’t have to treat her like this because she is vulnerable,” she said.

Ms Torkonu told the Daily Graphic that she had no bad intention towards her granddaughter but that she was only trying to use the hot water with herbs to cure the girl who even urinated in her uniform while in school.

“I am sorry. I didn’t know it would turn that bad. I have learnt a big lesson from this and it won’t happen again,” she said.

Bedwetting, also known as night-time incontinence or nocturnal enuresis, refers to the unintentional passage of urine during sleep. Enuresis is the medical term for wetting, whether in the clothing during the day or in bed at night.

According to medical experts, a child's bladder may be too small or the amount of urine produced overnight can be more than the bladder can hold. Some children sleep too deeply or take longer to learn bladder control.

Among other things, experts prescribe bedwetting alarms, bladder training and medicines, instead of children being punished for bedwetting, as they do not do it on purpose and most outgrow it.