A 30-year-old Welder who defiled a 10-year-old girl at Lakeside Estate, near Adenta has been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in absentia by an Accra Circuit Court.

This was after the court had found John Winter guilty on the charge of defilement.

Winter is said to have lured the victim into an uncompleted building and defiled her. After the act, Winter gave the victim one Ghana cedis and a black school bag and asked the victim not tell anyone.

The Court presided over by Mrs Abena Oppong Adjin-Doku noted that the convict abandoned the trial.

The case narrated by Chief Inspector Kofi Atimbire was that the complainant is a labourer and the victim, a class three pupil.

Prosecution said Winter reside in the same area with the complainant and the victim at Lakeside Estate, near Adenta.

On October 29, 2016, at about 12:00 pm, the complainant who had been supporting the victim and her two sisters with food noticed changes in the way the victim walked.

When the victim was questioned, she informed the complainant that Winter had defiled her.

Prosecution said somewhere in October 2016, at the about 2000 hours, Winter lured into an uncompleted building and had sex with her and offered her one Ghana cedis and a black school bag and warned her not to tell anyone.

On November 1, 2016, Winter was nabbed by the complainant and a formal complaint was lodged with the Police.

Prosecution said the Police issued the victim with a medical form to seek medical attention.