Daily Graphic front page designed to destroy people - Lamptey Mills

Proprietor of Great Lamptey Institute at Kasoa, Nii Lamptey Mills says allegations against him are false. The Proprietor of Great Lamptey Mills Institute, Enoch Nii Lamptey Mills, has denied impregnating one of his students and has accused the Daily Graphic newspaper of tarnishing his image and that of his school. The Daily Graphic on Friday reported that Mr Lamptey Mills has impregnated a 16-year-old student of his school and forcibly married her. Police arrested him and the parents of the girl. Mr. Lamptey has since been granted bail but insists he has not impregnated the 16-year-old girl or forced her into marriage. “It is completely false”, he told Citi FM. According to Mr Nii Lamptey Mills, the paper did not contact him to hear his own side of the story but went ahead to publish it. This, he said, is an attempt on the side of the paper to destroy him. “Look at where Graphic is situated and my school, it's just a stone throw; so if somebody has given you a false story, why can’t you walk to my place and find out?" he queried. “Nobody called me; I don’t know anything about it. This morning around 4:30, when a friend called me… I was surprised”, he added. Mr Lamptey Mills claimed that he had sent a story to the Daily Graphic some time back requesting for coverage on the paper’s front page which they refused to give him, and he wondered why the paper now has interest in putting him on its front page if it is not out to destroy his reputation and that of his school. “Why do they put me on front page? The front page of Daily Graphic is designed to destroy people”, he stated. Meanwhile, the Public Affairs Director of the Domestic Violelnce and Victim Support Unit, Chief Inspector Irene Oppong said a case of non-maintenance of the girl was initially reported by the victim against Mr Lamptey Mills to the outfit. According to her, the victim reported the case late July, 2009 but her Unit’s investigations further revealed that the girl was a student of the suspect’s institute. While in school, she was in a relationship with the proprietor which led to her pregnancy. Chief Inspector Irene Oppong said Nii Lamptey Mills performed the marriage rites of the 16-year-old victim when she was two months pregnant. She, however, calls on all who know something about the issue to come out boldly and inform the police, especially, regarding concerns raised in the media about the same school. “We need people to come out because the Police, we need witnesses in our cases”, she said. She noted also that the police only handle the criminal aspects of cases and therefore, it is the court that would decide whether the victim should be compensated or otherwise. By: Dorcas Efe Mensah/myjoyonline.com/Ghana