Accra, Nov. 15, GNA - A Circuit Court in Accra on Monday sentenced a 21-year-old mechanic apprentice, Benjamin Lavoe, to seven years' imprisonment for defiling and impregnating a 13-year-old Junior High School (JHS) girl. Lavoe pleaded guilty and said he committed the crime in an uncompleted house and not in his room as alleged by the Police. The court presided over by Mrs Georgina Mensah-Datsa therefore convicted him on his own plea. According to Assistant Superintendent of Police Sarah Acquah the victim, who is in JHS Two, lives at Teshie in Accra with her father and Lavoe.

She said in September Lavoe asked the victim to accompany him to a nearby school and on their way, Lavoe asked her to allow him have sex with her but the victim declined. ASP Acquah said two weeks later the victim needed soap to bath and approached Lavoe to give her one.

The prosecutor said Lavoe told the victim to go into his room for the soap and as soon as she entered the room, he followed her and defiled her. After the act, the prosecutor said, Lavoe brought out a talisman and a ring, warning her not to disclose the act to anyone else she would die. The prosecutor said the victim out of fear kept the ordeal to herself. In October the victim's father realized that she was ill and sent her to the La General Hospital, where it came to light that she was pregnant. A complainant was therefore lodged with the Police who arrested Lavoe. 15 Nov. 10