Driver jailed 18 years for defilement

Koforidua, March 09, GNA - A 25-year-old driver, Yaw Asike, has been sentenced to 18 years imprisonment in hard labour by the Koforidua Circuit Court for defiling a 12-year-old school girl. He pleaded not guilty.

Prosecuting, Police Chief Inspector John Adraku, told the court presided over by Mr Justice N.A. Agbevor, that, on March 2, last year, while the victim was on her way to school in the morning she met the accused who asked her to accompany him (accused) to collect money from the victim's father who is a bank manager.

He said the victim refused but the accused managed to convince her and took the victim to a bush near the Koforidua Senior Secondary Technical School where the accused used a handkerchief to wipe the victim's face and she became unconscious.

The prosecutor said when the victim regained consciousness, she found herself stripped naked in a banana farm behind the school with blood oozing from her private part.

He said the victim then shouted for help and some people working on a nearby farm rescued her and sent her to hospital after which a report was made to the police. The prosecution said police investigations led to the arrest of the accused on March 9, 2005.

The accused pleaded with the presiding judge to convict him to Nsawam prison because conditions there were more favourable than Koforidua prison.