Kofi Agyenim, 70, a farmer of Daboase near Sekondi, collapsed and died while he was raping his 16-year old niece on July 9, this year. The girl, the daughter of Agyenim's younger brother, had been left in his care after the parents died some years ago.

Sources close to the family who confirmed this said on that fateful day, the victim was asleep at dawn at the time the other members of the household had left to the farm. Agyenim, the source said nicodemously entered the room in which his niece was sleeping and sexually abused her after tying her legs to the bedposts. It was during the act that he collapsed before dying. When interviewed, the victim said that she only detected the action when Agyenim was forcing her.

"When I tried to shout, he covered my mouth with his singlet, she said, adding that when she tried to get up from the bed, she realised that her hands and legs had been tied to the bedposts.

According to the victim, even though tears ran down her cheeks profusely, Agyenim would not have mercy on her. "After about thirty minutes, my uncle sighed in a very deep breath and slowly fell down on me.

At that moment I thought that he was asleep, so I laid supine, praying for a helper to come to my aid," she said. She said after some time, her cousin, Ebenezer Nti, returned from the farm, entered the room and saw his father lying on her. Shocked at what he saw, Nti shouted out the name of the father several times but he did not move or respond. It was then that they realized that he was dead. In an interview with Nti, he said that he was amazed when he entered the room and saw his father lying naked on his cousin. He said he then lifted the old man from the girl and untied her, after which both were sent to the local government hospital where Agyenim was pronounced dead. The girl was then admitted at the hospital and discharged the following day upon treatment. The Daboase police has meanwhile invited the girl and Nti to help in investigations. Police sources at the Sekondi District Commander however declined to comment on the issue saying that it was still under investigation.