Boy, 16, discharged of defilement

Tarkwa, Sept. 26, GNA - A 16 year-old labourer, Maxwell Oti, has been discharged by a Tarkwa Circuit Court for lack of prosecution for his alleged defiling of a 13 year-old primary six pupil of Asankragwa.

According to the judge, the complainant has persistently refused to appear in court to testify in the case thereby preventing the court from conducting a speedy trial.

It would be recalled that, the prosecutor in the case, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Albert Adiita, told the court, presided over by Mr. Samuel Obeng Diawuo, that the complainant is a mason and father of the victim, who lived at Asankragwa with the accused.

According to DSP Adiita, on January 27, at about 1600 hours, the victim was returning from a public toilet when she saw the accused and one person, now at large, sitting under a shady tree in front of the nursery block of the Buadum B School on the Asankragwa-Breman Road.

He said Oti, with his colleague, invited the victim and proposed love to her and tried to convince her that their parents were rich so they would get her some money but the victim rejected them.

DSP Adiita said Oti and his colleague attacked the victim, tied her face with a piece of cloth and carried her behind the Day Nursery Block.

They forcibly had sex with her in turns and bolted from the scene after the act.

He said a witness who arrived at the scene when the victim was dressing up, accompanied her to make a report to her parents who also made a report to the Police.

The victim, consequently, was issued with a medical report form to report to the hospital for examination.

The Prosecutor said the accused and his colleague fled from Asankragwa on April 1, but the accused was arrested when he emerged from his hide out.

DSP Adiita said the victim identified Oti as one of the persons who defiled her but Oti in his statement, denied the offence and stated that it was his colleague who had sex with the victim.