The Appeals Court has by a unanimous decision acquitted and discharged an accounts clerk of a school in Accra who was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment for allegedly defiling a 12-year-old pupil of the school and impregnating her in the process.

The three-member court panel set Mr Charles Twumasi, 38, free after they unanimously held that no evidence linked him to the said defilement.

According to a report by the Daily Graphic, the court decided that some of the evidence was deliberately distorted to aid his conviction.

“We, therefore, set aside the conviction by the trial circuit court, as affirmed by the High Court, on the grounds that the conviction was unreasonable and furthermore, it is not supported, having regard to evidence on record.

“The appellant (Twumasi) is hereby acquitted and discharged and should be released from prison forthwith,” the Court of Appeal ordered.

Rather, it said, the evidence on record rather proved the victim was defiled in June 2012, a crime which was allegedly committed by a teacher of the school, known as Nash.