Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Christine Yevunoo, Ashaiman Divisional Co-ordinator of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU), has expressed regret that most domestic violence committed within the municipality were not reported to the unit.
ASP Yevunoo, who disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on Thursday, said on daily basis, her outfit received an average of five assault and 10 lack of maintenance cases, which in her view, was only a handful of the incidents happening in the Ashaiman Municipality.
She lamented that many domestic cases were "swept under the carpet" due to religious beliefs and tribal sentiments of some residents who thought domestic violence should be handled at the family level.
ASP Yevunoo identified broken homes, single parenthood and lower incomes as the main causes of domestic violence.
Mrs Yevunoo said it was regrettable that of all the cases received by her outfit on monthly basis, 70 per cent of those issued with Police Medical Report Forms did not report back.
She attributed this situation to the inability of the victims to raise money to go for treatment at the hospital
The Municipal DOVVSU Co-ordinator pointed out that some victims used the Police Medical Report Forms to secure some money from their abusers.
She urged people to report all forms of domestic violence to the police for the appropriate action to be taken against the culprits, cautioning that people should avoid settling domestic violence at home since the abusers had the tendency of repeating those acts.
ASP Yevunoo urged parents to encourage their children to report all forms of child abuse to them (parents) so that they could in turn inform the police.
She disclosed that her outfit would soon come up with a children's programme on radio to educate them on Child abuse.