Boy, 21 freed over defilement

An Accra Domestic Violence and Gender Based Court has acquitted and discharged a 21-year-old labourer, who was standing trial for defilement.

The accused, Selorm Tsekpui, was arraigned before the court for allegedly defiling and impregnating a 13-year-old girl.

The court, presided over by Abena Oppong Adjin-Doku on March 15, 2016, had convicted the first accused person one Hayford Gyamfi, 20, also a labourer who admitted the offence.

Selorm, who was represented by lawyer Muniru Kassim, denied the offence and was acquitted and discharged by the court after full trial yesterday.

Delivering the judgement, Mrs. Adjin-Doku, said the prosecution, led by Inspector Judith B. Asante, failed to prove the age of the victim.

She stated that the prosecution rather brought the weighing card of one Dzigbordzi instead of that of the victim.

The judge agreed with the defence lawyer that the weighing card could be that of the sister of the victim.

In the view of the court, the victim is an unreliable witness because she told the court that she was seven months pregnant, adding that the victim framed up Selorm.

The court held that although the DNA test conducted on the baby, who was born in the course of the one-year trial, showed that the child is that of the accused, the court cannot convict Selorm because the prosecution failed to establish a case against him.

The court accordingly acquitted and discharged him.

The complainant in the case is the father of the victim while Hayford is a worker at Gardo Cosmetics and Selorm, a labourer at Premcare Company, all at Manet.

Both are friends, who sleep together in a kiosk, near the victim’s house.

In September 2015, the victim went to Selorm for a haircut, who lured her into his kiosk, forcibly removed her pants and had sexual intercourse with her.

He had sex with her on two occasions.

On February 22, 2016, the complainant detected that the victim was pregnant and when he questioned her, she mentioned Selorm as the one responsible for the pregnancy but later mentioned Hayford.

The matter was reported to the police, which led to the arrest of the two on February 24, 2016.

During investigation Hayford admitted having sexual intercourse with the victim in September 2015, but Serlorm denied the charge.