Kumasi, Jan. 11, GNA - A Kumasi Circuit Court has sentenced an 18-year-old footballer to 240 months imprisonment in hard labour for defiling a 13-year-old Junior High School (JHS) student.

Augustine Appiah, alias "Sowah" claims to play for Westham FC, a Division Two side and pleaded not guilty to the offence.

He told the Court that he had consensual sex with the victim, an explanation, the Court did not accept.

Police Chief Inspector Comfort Baffour-Kyei told the Court presided over by Mr Justice Emmanuel Amoh-Yartey that the victim is a Junior High School student and lives at Maakro near Abuakwa in the Atwima-Nwabiagya district with her parents.

The convict also resides in the same area. On December 15, last year, the footballer took advantage of the absence of the victim's parents, went to their house and sexually abused her. The girl informed her father on arrival and a report was made to the Domestic Violence and Victims' Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service.

A police medical form signed by doctors, who treated her, confirmed she had been defiled. 11 Jan. 10