Cripple gets five-year prison term for sex abuse

Kumasi, April 24, GNA - A Kumasi circuit court has sentenced a 27-year-old cripple and former inmate of the Edwenase Rehabilitation Centre in Kumasi to five years imprisonment for sexually assaulting a 34-year-old mentally deranged, also an inmate of the centre.

Eric Afriyie, who was dismissed from the centre for cases of repeated sexual assault of inmates, managed to sneak into the centre to lure the imbecile to sexually abuse her in a more sordid manner, this time round, both anally and in the vagina.

Afriyie pleaded guilty to the charge.

Prosecuting, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) William Awuvey told the court, presided over by Mr R.M. Kogyapwah that, the victim, who is usually picked from the centre every vacation, could not be picked during the last vacation and was therefore left in the care of the officer in-charge of the place.

Afriyie, who at the time had already been sent out of the centre, was seen again on the compound but no one knew his mission until the victim confided in one of her mates and divulged the secret that the accused has been coming there to have sex with her.

DSP Awuvey said about a week later, Afriyie came back to the centre apparently to "enjoy" himself again but was apprehended by the authorities at the centre, which had already been hinted. He was later handed over to the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DVVSU) where after investigations Afriyie was put before court.

In his police caution statement, Afriyie admitted the offence but added that the victim consented to the anal sex when he promised to give her 20,000 cedis.