Pastor on trial for defilement

Pastor Senafia Ganyo of the Evangelical Bible Ministry at Aflao, who allegedly defiled his niece's daughter on several occasions, is on trial at the Aflao Circuit Tribunal.

Ganyo pleaded not guilty to defilement and is on a 10 million-cedi bail with one surety to justify. He will re-appear on November 13.

Inspector Kofi Frimpong told the tribunal, presided over by Mr. Francis Poku, that during the last school holidays, Ganyo visited the victim and her mother at Awutu-Beraku in the Central Region.

The accused asked his niece to allow him to take her daughter with him to Aflao to continue her education while helping his wife in the house. Inspector Frimpong said on reaching Accra on his way back to Aflao with the victim, Ganyo spent the night in a hotel and asked her to share one of the two beds in the room with him so that he could use her cover cloth. During the night, Ganyo forcibly had sex with the victim.

Inspector Frimpong said back at Aflao, Ganyo continued to defile the victim but failed to enrol her in one of the junior secondary schools as promised. He said it got to a point where the victim could no longer bear Ganyo's demands and she escaped to her father's relatives at Dzodze.

At Dzodze, she narrated her ordeal in the hands of Ganyo. She was led to the Aflao Police station where she made a report. Inspector Frimpong said a medical examination requested by the police indicated that the victim was "carnally known" and that her hymen had been broken.