Woman accused of raping friend with 'dildo' acquitted and discharged by court
Queenie Akuffo, the 26-year-old woman accused of inserting a dildo into the vagina of a friend, was yesterday acquitted and discharged by the Accra Circuit Court.
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Queenie was freed by the court, presided over by Mrs Abena Oppong Adjin-Doku, after it concluded that per the evidence on record, the alleged victim, Janet Amankwa, 22, who claimed she had been drugged, had actually consented to the act.
According to the court, Janet had, indeed, been aware of the act and had not been drugged by Queenie prior to the act, as Janet had claimed.
“The act was a consensual act and I am unable to convict the accused person,’’ the presiding judge stated.
Video evidence
The incident happened at Ablekuma, near Accra, where both Queenie and Janet reside, on January 20, 2016.
Janet, in her evidence-in–chief, had told the court that she performed chores for Queenie.
She claimed that on the said date, she was invited by Queenie to her house, where Queenie offered her a drink, adding that after taking the drink, she became intoxicated and unconscious.
Queenie was said to have subsequently used her mobile phone to record a video of her performing sex acts on Janet.
However, per the video which was shown in the courtroom, the judge was of the view that Janet was fully conscious of the act because she did not protest.
Also, based on the report of the medical officer who had examined Janet after the act, the court dismissed Janet’s claim that she had been drugged and had, therefore, not been aware of the incident.
According to the court, per the evidence on record, Janet told the medical officer that Queenie had inserted the dildo into her vagina.
“If she was intoxicated and unconscious, how was she able to tell the doctor what had happened to her?’’ the presiding judge queried in her judgement.
Charges
Queenie was charged with having unnatural carnal knowledge of a person, but the court dismissed the charge on the grounds that the prosecution failed to prove it.
The act, the court explained, could not be described as unnatural carnal knowledge because it did not involve penetrative sex by the genital organ of a human being.
“If there is no penetrative sex involving genital to genital, the act cannot be termed unnatural carnal knowledge,’’ it asserted.
It, therefore, based its judgement on the charge of indecent assault.
It, however, held that Queenie could not be convicted on the charge of indecent assault because Janet had consented to the act.
Read also: Woman accused of raping friend with 'dildo' in court
Picture shows Queenie Akuffo leaving the court with her lawyer after she was acquitted and discharged on Wednesday morning. PICTURES BY EMMANUEL EBO HAWKSON.
