The suspects
One of the five boys who are being tried for allegedly gang-raping a teenage girl at Bantama in Kumasi has been sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment.
Ernest Asare, 20, was jailed by the circuit court, presided over by Comfort Tasiame.
The court isolated Asare for sentencing on Wednesday because he was considered an adult and so it was permissible for him to stand trial in the circuit court.
The remaining four accused, who are teenagers, though convicted of all the charges preferred against them, were spared.
However, they are expected to be hurled before a juvenile court in Kumasi for sentencing in the coming days.
The charges preferred against them by the prosecution team included defilement, conspiracy to defile and abetment to defilement.
Lawyers for the convict have given a hint of a possible appeal in a superior court to get the seven years reduced or possibly quashed.
Yahaya Seidu, one of the lawyers, in a chat with the media, described the sentencing of Asare as a sad situation.
According to him, the lawyers did their best to save their client but their argument that Asare was below 18 years old was rejected by the court.
Originally, on the charge sheet, he said, three of the suspects are teenagers; Asare is aged 20 years and the others are not up to 19.
Mr. Seidu said the lawyers would request for the judgement and study it, adding that if the parents of Asare want an appeal, we would do it in court later on.”
Gang-Rape
Five boys, mostly students in Bantama, a suburb in Kumasi, were seen in a video on social media gang-raping a teenage girl in turns in a room some months ago which attracted public anger.
Surprisingly, the boys used their mobile phones to record the obscene act.
From I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi