Crime & Punishment of Wednesday, 4 September 2019

Source: ghananewsagency.org

Fisherman jailed 15 years for defiling girl, 14

The convict, pleaded not guilty to the charge of defilement The convict, pleaded not guilty to the charge of defilement

A 20-year-old fisherman who defiled a 14-year-old girl at Bantema, a suburb of Elmina in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) Municipality of the Central Region has been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.

The convict, James Koomson pleaded not guilty to the charge of defilement but the Court presided over by Mrs. Dorinda Smith Arthur found him guilty after the trial.

Prosecuting, Detective Inspector Asare Bediako told the Court that, the Complainant who is the mother of the victim lives at Bantema while the convict resides at Elmina.

He said on Thursday, March 14, 2019, at about 1600hrs, the victim sneaked out of the house to the beach at Elmina Castle and on her way home she met Koomson by the roadside while it was raining heavily.

According to Detective Inspector Bediako, Koomson asked the girl to accompany him to his house but when she refused he beat her mercilessly and dragged her to his house.

He then tore her parties and forcibly had bouts of sexual intercourse with her until the next morning around 0500 hours when he released her to go home.

The prosecutor said the victim on reaching home, immediately narrated her ordeal to her mother who subsequently reported the case to the Elmina office of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) leading to his arrest.