Welder jailed 15 years for defiling 13-year-old girl
A 35-year old welder has been jailed 15 years by the Accra Circuit Court for defiling a 13-year-old girl at Pantang, near Accra. The victim became paralysed after the defilement.
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Immediately after his sentence was delivered by the presiding judge, Mrs Abena Oppong Adjin-Doku, the convict, Paul Ademan, looked up to the heavens, praised God and uttered the words: “Nothing is too hard for the Lord.’’
Ademan pleaded not guilty to two counts of defilement and causing harm, but the court held that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt and sentenced him on the charge of defilement.
The court was, however, of the view that the prosecution failed to prove the charge of causing harm and accordingly acquitted and discharged him on that charge.
Cloudy weather
The prosecutor, Inspector Judith Asante, told the court that the victim lived with her parents at Pantang, while Ademan also lived with his wife in the same area.
In October 2013, Ademan’s wife asked the victim to deliver a message to her children in the house to the effect that they should stay indoors because the weather was cloudy.
Inspector Asante said the victim went to the house with her younger sister and met only Ademan at home. Ademan, she said, lured the victim into his room and asked her to put her younger sister on a cloth he spread on the floor, which the victim did and later slept beside her sister.
“While sleeping, she felt some heaviness on top of her and some sharp pain. She woke up and realised that Ademan was having sexual intercourse with her,’’ she said.
The victim, the prosecutor said, tried to scream, but Ademan covered her mouth and pointed a knife at her, threatening to kill her if she disclosed her ordeal toanyone.
Paralysed
Inspector Asante said the following day, the victim informed Ademan’s wife of her ordeal and the wife asked her husband, who denied committing the act.
“The victim then kept the ordeal to herself until she became paralysed a few weeks after the incident. She then narrated the incident to a certain prophetess who resided in the area,’’ the prosecutor added.