The Bekwai Circuit Court has sentenced a 23-year-old mason to 15 years’ imprisonment for defiling a four-year-old girl at Manso Afedie.
The convict, Ebenezer Birikwai, alias Immortal, pleaded guilty to the charge when he appeared before His Honour Isaac Apietu.
Detective Chief Inspector Eric Twum prosecuted the case.
Birikwai was charged with defilement of a child under 16 years of age, contrary to Section 101 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), as amended by the Criminal Code (Amendment) Act, 1998 (Act 554), Section 11.
The court heard that both the victim and the accused reside at Manso Afedie.
On April 16, 2026, at about 12:00 p.m., Birikwai was walking past a corridor where the victim was playing with other children older than her. He approached them and gave his phone to the children to watch a game while he sat on a bench nearby.
While the other children were occupied with the phone, the accused placed the victim on his lap, pulled her underwear to one side, lowered his shorts, and inserted his penis into her vagina.
The victim’s aunt, who noticed changes in the child’s facial expression while she was still seated on the accused’s lap, pulled her off him. She observed that the accused’s penis was erect and inside the victim’s vagina, with whitish fluid discharging from it. The same fluid was also found on the victim’s thighs.
The aunt raised an alarm, drawing residents, including the victim’s mother, to the scene. The Unit Committee Chairman of the town informed the police at Manso Adubia, who rescued the accused from an attempted mob attack.
Birikwai was first sent to the Adubia Police Station and later handed over to the Divisional Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU).
A police medical report form was issued to the complainant to send the victim to hospital for examination. The form was later returned, duly endorsed by Dr. (Mrs.) Patience S. Marfo of St. Martin’s Catholic Hospital, Agroyesum.
The medical officer’s findings stated: “Hymen broken.”
In his caution statement to the police, given in the presence of an independent witness, the accused admitted the offence and pleaded for forgiveness.
Following investigations, he was charged with defilement and subsequently convicted on his own plea.
FROM David Afum, Bekwai