Samuel Ottoo
An unemployed young man, Samuel Ottoo, who pleaded guilty to a charge of defiling a 14-year-old JHS Three pupil at Kaneshie in Accra, has been sentenced to seven years of hard labour in prison.
He was hauled before an Accra Circuit Court for drugging the victim and sleeping with her in a mechanic shop behind the Kanseshie Secondary Technical School on October 1, this year.
According to the prosecutor, the victim sells tiger nuts at Kaneshie and on the day in question she was tired and decided to take a rest when the accused approached her and gave her a bottle of water.
Unknown to her, the convict had laced the water with a sleeping drug, and the victim felt dizzy after drinking the water.
Samuel Ottoo and his friend (now on the run) managed to carry the victim to the mechanic shop where he had sexual intercourse with her.
He was put before the court on one count of defiling a child under the age of 16 to which he pleaded guilty.
Samuel Ottoo expressed remorse and prayed the court to forgive him. He also asked the court to beg the family of the victim on his behalf.
The court presided over by Rita Doku considered the fact that he had expressed remorse for the offence and readily pleaded guilty.
She subsequently sentenced Samuel Ottoo to seven years of hard labour in prison.
Presenting the facts, the prosecutor, ASP Agnes Boafo, told the court that the complainant lives with the victim at Kasoa in the Central Region but sells tiger nuts at Kaneshie.
She said on October 1, 2018, the complainant and the victim went to Kaneshie First Light to sell tiger nuts. The prosecutor stated that at about 8pm, the victim became tired and decided to sit on a bench in front of a shop to relax for some time.
The court heard that Samuel Ottoo approached the victim with a bottle of water and lied to her that it was her mother who had asked him to bring her the water.
“The victim started feeling dizzy after taking the water. The accused with the help of a friend, now at large, carried the victim to a fitting shop behind Kaneshie Secondary Technical School”, ASP Agnes stated.
She said the convict put the victim in a VW Passat saloon car parked at the shop and had sexual intercourse with her.
She disclosed that at the same time, the complainant went looking for the victim and with the help of other people around found the accused and the victim in the car fast asleep.
The court heard that when the complainant woke the victim and the accused up, she noticed some changes in the way the victim walked; later she fell unconscious.
The prosecutor added that the victim was rushed to the Ridge Hospital for treatment and the accused was arrested and handed over to the Odokor Domestic Violence and victim Support Unit (DOVVSU).
She said the accused admitted the offence in his investigation caution statement and was charged with the offence.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak