THE JUABEN Circuit Court in the Ashanti Region has sentenced a 20-year-old steel bender apprentice, who was arraigned for defiling a female minor, to seven years’ imprisonment in hard labour.
The court, presided by Rosemarie Afua Asante, sentenced John Sefa, on his own plea of guilty to a charge of defilement of a female child under 16 years of age contrary to Section 101 (2) of Criminal Offences Act, Act 29/60 as amended by Section 11 0f Act 554/98.
In his plea of mitigation, he pleaded with the court to forgive him and vowed not to repeat the crime.
Presenting the facts of the case to the court, Detective Inspector S.K. Oppong, the prosecutor, said the complainant in the case is the father of the victim, aged 15, and live at Fawode New Site in the Kwabre East Municipality of the Ashanti Region.
He told the court that the convict had proposed love to the victim and she accepted his proposal.
On May 1, 2022, at about 7:00pm, the convict visited the victim in her home and lured her to follow him to his house for a parcel.
Prosecution continued that victim obliged and followed him to his house. On entering his room, Sefa who had other plans, pushed the victim onto his bed and forcibly had sexual intercourse with her.
After the act, the victim who was returning from Sefa’s house, met her parents and when they interrogated her to find out where she was coming from, she disclosed her ordeal and mentioned the suspect’s name as the culprit.
The next day, the complainant made a report at the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) at Mamponteng, where a police medical report form was issued to him to take the victim to the hospital for medical examination and treatment.
The police medical report form was returned and duly endorsed by a medical officer, who confirmed that the victim had been carnally known by someone.
Suspect was subsequently arrested, and in his investigation caution statement admitted to the offence of defilement.
From David Afum, Kumasi