Kumasi, May 31, GNA - A Circuit Court in Kumasi has jailed a 23-year-old mechanic for 10 years in hard labour, for defiling two sisters, seven and nine years old respectively.

Ekow Ankama who had earlier pleaded guilty to the charge of defilement was convicted on his own plea but pleaded for leniency. Police Inspector Nana Amofa told the court presided over by Mr Essel Mensah that Ekow was a family friend of the two victims who lived just next door to the accused at Oforikrom in Kumasi. The prosecutor said the parents of the victims always left the two sisters in the care of Ekow, who slept in their room anytime they travelled.

Inspector Amofa said on May 19, Ekow defiled the girls after their parents left them in his care and travelled outside Kumasi. He said when the eldest of the two girls wanted to raise the alarm, the accused threatened to kill her.

Medical reports proved that the victims had been defiled.