'Akpeteshie' seller jailed for defilement

Bekwai (Ash), Feb 12, GNA - A circuit court at Bekwai on Friday sentenced a 19-year-old 'akpeteshie' seller to 10 years imprisonment in hard labour for defiling a 10-year-old girl.

Kwabena Kusasi pleaded guilty to the charge.

Police Chief Inspector Thomas Bossman Tuffour told the court presided over by Mr Agyei Frimpong that both the accused and the victim, a pupil of the Atobiase Catholic Primary School lived in the same vicinity at Atobiase near Jachie in the Bosomtwe-Atwima-Kwanwoma District.

He said on November 28, 2004, Kusasi sent the girl to collect his change of 15,000 cedis from a cooked food seller and when she brought the change, the accused took advantage of the quietness of the area and had sex with the girl.

Chief Inspector Tuffour said then on November 30, Kusasi lured the girl into his room and again had sex with her but luck ran out on him this time.

He said while in the act, an aunt of the girl rushed into the room and rescued the girl who was rushed to the Kumasi South Hospital at Kyirapatre where medical examination proved that she was defiled. Chief Inspector Tuffour said a report was therefore made to the Jachie police who arrested Kusasi and after investigations charged him with the offence.