Man, 56, jailed 10 years for defilement

Accra, Aug. 10

Alex Baffoe, a driver aged 56, was on Tuesday sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment in hard labour by a circuit tribunal in Accra for defiling a 16-year-old girl. Baffoe, who operates at the Pig Farm "trotro" station in Accra, pleaded not guilty to a charge of defilement.

The tribunal chairman, Mrs Elizabeth Anderson Yeboah, before passing sentence, noted that rape and defilement cases have been on the increase and these were doing a lot of physical harm to the victims. It said the maximum sentence imposed on Baffoe would deter men of his character from committing such serious crimes on innocent young girls.

Police Inspector Alex Yartey Tawiah told the tribunal that at about noon on July 19, the accused bought 100 cedis worth of water from the victim, who was selling iced water at the station.

The accused asked her to come later for the money. When the girl went back to him at about 1800 hours, he asked her to follow him to his house to collect the money. The girl initially refused to follow him but reluctantly accompanied the accused person, who forced her into a nearby kiosk and forcibly had sex with her.

The prosecution said Baffoe did not allow the victim to go home that day but kept her in the kiosk until 0530 hours the following day. Even then, he did not pay for the water he bought the previous day.

The victim went home and reported the matter to her parents after which the accused was arrested. At the same court nine persons, who were charged with possessing narcotic drugs were committed to stand trial at a Regional Tribunal in Accra.

The tribunal said by the nature of the offence, the accused persons, in law should be tried by a higher court because it has no jurisdiction to hear the case. They were, therefore, remanded custody until the case would be listed for hearing.

The prosecution said on August one, the Police Striking Force, upon a tip-off, arrested the accused persons at the "Timber Market". When they were searched, 28 polythene bags containing some dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp were found on them.

The accused persons who pleaded not guilty were Abukari Briamah, Lukman Moro and Fred Kwame all drivers, Nii Korsah, unemployed and Mohammed Mahama, driver's mate.

The rest were Mamud Natomah, Moro Wini, Abdulai Alhassan and Emmanuel Tagoe, all traders.