A trader who pleaded guilty to defiling a 13-year-old minor at Alajo in Accra has been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment by an Accra Circuit Court.
Alateyvi Gideon aka Kwame Gideon is said to have lured the minor into his room by sending her to pick his mobile phone for him when he pounced on her and had sexual intercourse with her.
The victim is currently carrying a four-month-old pregnancy as a result of the defilement which occurred in April 2018.
The convict is said to have given the victim GH¢10.00 after the incident and warned her to keep quiet about her ordeal or she would die.
Upon his arrest, he admitted the offence and told the police that he had consensual sex with the victim and that was the only time he did that to her.
He was hauled before the court and charged with defiling a child under the age of 16 years, and he pleaded guilty.
The court presided over by Her Honour Abena Oppong Adjin-Doku convicted him on his own plea and sentenced him to 10 years’ imprisonment.
The prosecution led by Chief Inspector Kofi Atimbire told the court that in April this year, the victim was going to fetch water when the convict accosted her and asked her to pick his phone for him from his room.
He said the victim innocently obliged and in the course of picking the mobile phone the convict pounced on her, pushed her onto his bed, covered her mouth and forcibly had sexual intercourse with her.
The prosecutor told the court that the convict after the act gave the victim GH¢10.00 and warned her not to speak of the incident to anyone or she would die.
Chief inspector Atimbire stated that the victim, out of fear, kept quiet until July 22, 2018, when her mother noticed changes in her and demanded a pregnancy test to be conducted on her.
“The test revealed that victim was indeed pregnant. Upon persistent interviews, she finally opened up and revealed her ordeal and mentioned the accused person as the culprit”, the prosecutor told the court.
He said on July 25, 2018, a formal complaint was lodged at the Tesano Police Station and a medical form was given to the victim’s mother to take her to the hospital for treatment and examination.
Chief inspector Atimbire told the court that the accused was arrested and he admitted the offence in his police caution statement saying he had consensual sex with the victim and that was the only occasion on which it happened.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak