Ghanaians in USA Brutally Murdered 5-Year Old Son - Time to Talk About Child Abuse in Africa

Sunday, 19 May 2024

By TB Obwoge

I've written about bizzare news from Ghana on several other platforms, murders, stalking and people found dead in Ghana without any explanation.

However this story is brutal and disgusting because it tells you about the brutal death and abuse of just a 5-year old boy. This is not just about Ghanaians, this is to highlight the abuse of children from African parents.

I wrote about the horrific and ignored child abuse in some parts of Africa in another essay, here I will share some of the brutality I've witnessed and some that has been reported in the news.

Sadly, it seems like there is so much ignored sexual abuse of children in many parts of Africa. Due to culture norms people are often shamed and discouraged from reporting acts of sexual abuse and rape on the African continet.

In May 2024, a Ghanaian couple based in Queens, New York was sentenced to 25 years in prison for beating a 5-year-old boy to death. The couple, Owusu and Addae, beat their son, King, with at least four different instruments in their apartment between March 30 and April 1, 2021. The couple watched King's condition deteriorate for about three days before he lost consciousness.

During that time, neither Owusu nor Addae called 911, took King to the doctor, or provided any medical care to the child. Instead, they transported him to a family member's house, where he was later discovered deceased. A jury delivered a verdict of second-degree murder on March 22, 2024, and a judge pronounced the sentencing.

“The jury has spoken, but unfortunately, that will not bring back this young boy,” Tierney said.

Prosecutors said that after beating King Owusu, the defendants watched the child’s condition worsen over the course of roughly three days, then dropped him off at the home of Addae’s parents in Long Island after the boy lost consciousness.

A relative notified authorities, who brought the victim to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

“This little boy was beaten and suffered for days at the hands of these defendants, one of whom was his own mother until he, unfortunately, succumbed to his severe and extensive injuries,” Tierney said when the couple was convicted

Source Ghana Graphic

Notice how these 2 people watched the boy dying over the course of 3-days? They then took the child to the man's parents house, almost as if they thought that the parents would help them hide the abuse or even abuse him more, who knows.

In the Ghana Graphic article, there is a photo, almost as if the pair was smiling in their photos.

Below here is a piece I wrote about childabuse in African countries, nothing has changed. The culture of brutality towards children and even women is horrible in some parts of Africa.

I Fucking Love Africa — But Here Is Home To Some Brutal Parenting

Things that are passed down from parents to children is brutality in parenting practices

Let me start out for all the assholes ready to comment off of the title alone. I’m an American I was beat almost to death by my drunken, mentally ill, evil mother from 4 years to 46 years of age. I know damn well bad parenting is all over the world, yet the ‘Culture’ of beating the shit out of your children is ingrained in some societies.

Some countries have a culture of severely beating and abusing their children, it needs to stop! Issues even involving molestation and rape of children by parents & relatives is common.

Sexual Abuse of Children —

I’ve always known that villages are home to some of the most abusive parents, people will do things that are illegal even, safely tucked into villages away from the big cities. When Kenya outlawed the practice of female genital mutilation, that was ‘circumcising girls by cutting the clitoris’, many at the village level ignored their government.

Same in Ghana where they’ve placed the signs telling parents about marrying off their young daughters as well as the practice of incestuous acts with children. The signs though written in English instead of the local language are ignored as well. Where girls as young as five have been ‘defiled’ (defiled is the word used because of British English, once a girl is above a certain age it is called rape).

One mother has a child as young as a year old, she hits this child often. Kwame once complained that the child cried too much, as he was complaining the mother had beaten the child so severely that they were crying so hard they weren’t able to breathe.

As a moment of silence game you heard this baby gasping for air. Kwame was annoyed by the crying. When I explained my years of raising children, my own & other peoples children, I’ve also worked with children for over 25 years, that isn’t normal crying. Crying from being hit over & over again isn’t a child just crying for no reason.

He said no, the child is refusing to take a bath, no you could hear the hands of the mother hitting this child. Kwame annoyed by me now refused to speak. He believes like many do, that children deserve to be hit and beaten even if there is no reason to hit them.

For some parents they just open their doors letting their children live on the streets. Some as young as a year old can be seen sleeping on the streets. There are some of the highest rates of homeless children in the world, from West to East to South Africa.

Children sleeping on the streets has become so common you learn to ignore it said one Fatau a 32 year old man, Ghanian born but from Benin. There is an NGO ‘Children’s International’, that is challenging one countries street children problem since the government is ignoring them. You can click here to read about that story!

Children are to be seen not heard —

When walking into a local clinic for treatment of my tattoo that had now become a wound, there were mother’s with new born babies, some even with toddlers. The room was still, eerily quiet, a room filled with children under 3 years, silent enough to hear a pen drop.

The culture of beating, spanking, hitting children for doing normal, developmental milestones is common place. Children spanked for crawling where a parent placed them to crawl, spanked for crying as young as 6 months old.

Asking Questions forbidden by most families —

Asking questions, several or even just a few will get you no where in some areas of Africa.

#1 Some people won’t know the answer so they’ll ignore you

#2 Some people, especially men don’t feel that they should be questioned at all

#3 Children are beaten more times than not when questioning anyone especially an adult, so you will find children that don’t know something yet they fear asking for an explanation

#4 This includes when people don’t understand you, native English speakers speak too fast or quickly for Africans to get your words. Some people won’t ask you to repeat yourself, they’ll smile a lot when they don’t understand you.

(example: I asked a soldier what was wrong with his pinky, he ignored me 3 times, the 4th time he said “Tracie, I have no idea what you’re asking and you keep asking me, I don’t understand you!”) He didn’t know that pinky was the smaller finger on his hand, index, middle, pointer, he knew thumb only .

#5 Adults don’t feel the need to answer a child’s questions. Often those who are raised to do things don’t ask why, so they won’t accept their children to ask why.

#6 You will get called rude for asking questions of some people.

Education in African countries — Children are often times beaten with canes, sticks and other items. This canning is legal in several African countries. It was claimed to be outlawed in Kenya, however to this day several children have died in Kenya from being beaten by their teachers.

Mothers (Wives) sent to their parents house after giving birth —

Something I’ve never understood and asked several about is after a woman gives birth to her child she’s sent to live with her mom or both parents if they’re still together. I’ve been told it is for a month to 2 months, these women are to be taken care of by their mother. When I asked why one man said what am I supposed to do?

Get up & down and take care of her? No, that is her mother’s job. Another new father named Eben said he didn’t know why it was done but that he needed a break away from his wife & children any way.

Political Views vs. Parenting Views —

Few Africans believe that democracy will never work in African countries. That military rule with brut force is the best way to govern an African country. This is in direct correlation with some of the belief that parental punishments should be brutal & severe as well. Hitting children is often times applauded on social media sites from Africans, pretty much the mentality accepted by Blacks living in America.

Here there have been so many incidents of murder and injury at the hands of parents disciplining is brutal, swift and children aren’t even allowed to explain anything. There is often no chance to explain their actions. When I wrote about the abuse of pets in Africa that are much like the abuse of children, here you can read that.

I would like to thank those that added their input about their childhoods in various African countries:

Julian, Kimie, John, Alfred, Fatua, Kwame, Eben, Mina, John 13 yrs old, Charles, Enock, Na and Ama

Source Medium Platform from TB Obwoge

There is rampant FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) all over Africa not just from Muslims but Christians on the African continent. Children only a few months old having their vagina's mutilated, even in Ghana this is practiced and many aren't counted or reported on in the countries statistics.

In sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 3 in 4 children experience violent discipline by caregivers. Africa has the highest percentage of child neglect in the world having 41.8 percent of girls and 39.1 percent of boys. According to UNICEF, 125 million women currently in Africa were married before their 18th birthday

Source Leading Ladies of Africa

When 4 Gambian officials were expelled from the United States, the news reported that one abused his younger teen aged daughter. The article also stated that had he not had diplomatic immunity, that he would have been charged for child abuse.

This same abuse is often times seen within Black American families and those in the Carribean as well. Why are Black people so often times quick to abuse their children?

Thank you for reading 🙏🏽 Please consider buying a coffee for Lacey’s House efforts in Gender Equality & Children’s Rights.

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