The police in Tumu have arrested three suspected Fulani men in the Yigantu community of the Sissala East municipal area for allegedly gang-raping a 50-year-old woman who was harvesting flower plants (delicacies) to prepare soup.
Three other women managed to escape narrowly into Yigantu, which is about 50 kilometres from Tumu, after they were given a hot chase by the assailants.
The perpetrators in the process of the sexual act hit their victim’s leg repeatedly with a stick, breaking part and fracturing the ankle, Assistant Superintendent of Police Stephen Abanga, Sissila East Municipal Police Commander, told the Ghana News Agency.
He said the 50-year-old woman with four children is currently receiving treatment at Nandom Hospital after she was transferred from Tumu Hospital due to her worsening condition.
ASP Abanga said the victim was among four women who had gone into the bush to harvest a specific flower plant for meals and for sale in neighbouring Burkina Faso.
He said the suspects appeared from the opposite direction with one wielding a machete and attacked them.
ASP Abanga said three of the women were able to escape, leaving the victim who got raped in turns by the attackers. He asserted that the three escapees reported the incident in their village and a search party was quickly formed and went to the rescue of the victim the following day. He mentioned the names of the suspects as Nuhu Dauda, Iddrisu Mumuni and Amadu Bolai.
The assemblyman of Nabulo Electoral Area who said the women hail from Inusah Nyame told the GNA that “picking of flower plants is a usual activity among women in the area but the identity of the herdsmen are not known in the area”.
“What happened appears strange to all of us. The victim is responding to treatment at Nandom,” he added.
Meanwhile, the police have confirmed that the case has been transferred to the Upper West Regional Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service in Wa for further investigations.
GNA