Mpraeso, May 18, GNA - A Circuit Court at Mpraeso presided over by Mr. Alex Owusu Ofori, has sentenced a 64-year-old farmer to 15 years imprisonment in hard labour for defiling a seven-year-old class one pupil at Nsuta Aweregya near Nkawkaw.

The farmer, Musah Iddrisu, pleaded guilty to the charge. Prosecuting, Detective Police Inspector Christian Apronti, told the court that the victim lives with her parents while the convict lived in the same community,

He said on April 17 this year, the victim left home around 1900 hours to listen to dirges at the community's funeral grounds where she met Iddrisu who held her and asked her to accompany him to his house. The prosecutor said the victim innocently followed Iddrisu to his house since he had been fond of her and did not anticipate any wrong doing. He said when they got to the house, Iddrisu sent the little girl to his kitchen where he undressed himself and the victim and ordered her to sit on his laps and sexually assaulted her.

The prosecutor said after satisfying himself, Iddrisu released the girl to go home but warned her not to tell anyone of her ordeal. The following day when the victim could not bear the pains she was going through, she informed her mother who took her to a clinic at Apradang, a nearby village, where she was partially treated and referred to the Nkawkaw Holy Family hospital for further treatment.

The prosecutor said when Iddrisu heard that the victim had informed her parents of the act, he fled the village.

On April 24, Iddrisu was spotted in a Benz bus at a Police check point at Nkawkaw Amanfrom on the Nkawkaw- Kumasi highway, where he was arrested and escorted to the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU). A medical report later received from the hospital showed that the victim had been defiled for which Iddrisu was later charged with the offence.