Obuasi SHTS: Victim A recounts how headmaster tried to silence her with GH¢100 after alleged rape

A second-year student of Obuasi Senior High Technical School (SHTS) who is among 16 students accusing the school’s headmaster of sexual abuse at his official residence says Zakaria Abdulai tried to silence her with GH¢100 after the alleged rape.

She said the alleged assault happened on July 25, 2026, and that none of the teachers and house mistresses she told about it reported the matter to the police.

The student, identified as Victim A in JoyNews’ documentary, Inside The Dreaded Headmaster’s Bungalow, said she had gone to take down washing she had hung out to dry when the headmaster asked her to come to his bungalow so he could send her on an errand.

“I’d gone to remove my wash clothes which had dried on the grass. He asked me to come to his bungalow after sending my things to the dormitory so he would send me on an errand,” she said.

She told Investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni that the headmaster forced himself on her.

“He held my hand and used it to rub his manhood and said he wanted to have sex with me, but I couldn’t do it. We struggled. He took off my shorts and forcibly had sex with me. After that, he dragged me into his bedroom and had sex with me again.”

After this, he gave her a GH¢100 note and warned her not to tell anyone.

“When I returned to the dormitory, I was distraught. I placed the hundred cedis he gave me in a Bible and was lying down crying over it,” she said.

When friends asked what was wrong, she told them. Her house prefect urged her to report it, but she refused because of a previous incident.

“A teacher had caned me and I was admitted in the hospital for two weeks. The school authorities did nothing when I reported that case. So I knew nothing would come out of this case too,” she said.

The prefect eventually reported it to a house mistress, who sent the student to the senior house mistress. She said the senior house mistress declined to take the complaint, saying the first house mistress should have listened to her before sending her on. A third house mistress then advised her not to tell anybody, she said.

By the third day, none of the three had done anything else, according to the documentary.

A friend then led her to a male teacher, who she said laughed when he heard her story.

“He told me he had asked the headmaster, and the headmaster admitted the offence, but asked that I forgive him. I told Mr. Amankwah that I would not forgive the headmaster.

“Then Mr. Amankwah asked me what I wanted them to do for me, and I said I wanted the headmaster to leave the school or I would leave,” she said.

Her friends then took her to another male teacher, who brought in two colleagues, including the teacher in charge of safeguarding. They asked her to bring evidence: the GH¢100 note and the shorts she was wearing.

An official from the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) later collected the items from the teachers.

However, as in other alleged cases involving the headmaster, the school authorities did not report this one to the police.

Her father took her to report the alleged rape on August 4, more than a week after the incident.