A Sekondi Circuit Tribunal on Friday sentenced Ebenezer Aduosi, a 37-year-old teacher of Nana Brempong Yaw Junior Secondary School to seven years' imprisonment with hard labour for defiling a 10-year-old pupil.

He pleaded not guilty.

Police Inspector John Akowuah told the tribunal that the accused and the mother of the victim stay in the same house at Collins Avenue in Takoradi.

On February 24, 1999, at about 7 p.m., the mother went to church, leaving the victim behind to do some house chores.

The prosecution said the accused invited the girl to his room and gave her a book to read. But later, Aduosi sent her back into her mother's room and forcibly had sex with her.

The child initially did not disclose the ordeal to her parents due to threats she received from Aduosi.

But on February 27, she told the mother about it and the matter was reported to the police.