Man Charged With Incest in Ghana

This article says he is accused of impregnating his 18-year-old daughter. The article does not give any indication that this wasn’t consensual, nor does make it clear if there she was under 18 when the sexual interaction began last year.

The victim lived with her grandmother at Akyem Kwabeng where she completed her junior High School education in 2008.

The prosecutor said during the same year she joined her father (accused) in Accra. Some where in March 2010, the accused, who was single, started having sex with the victim and as a result she got pregnant.

In July, 2010, the prosecutor said accused gave the victim to his neighbour (a woman) to help the victim abort the pregnancy.

The prosecutor said after the abortion, the accused continued to have sex with the victim until she became pregnant again in December 2010. She said neighbours who knew of the accused person's relationship with his daughter became fed up and hinted the Police who in turn rescued the victim and arrested the accused.

So apparently she did not complain; she could have, presumably, gone back to live with her grandmother, or gone to live on her own. It was the neighbors who were upset. Assuming this was consensual sex, I wonder if everyone else approves of the complaining neighbors’ sex lives?

Again, it would be good to get more detailed reporting on these matters to draw a clear distinction between abuse and consensual sex. The latter should not be a crime. It does matter, because lumping consensual sex between adults in with child abuse perpetuates prejudice.