Galamsey operator jailed seven years for defilement

A 22-year-old galamsey operator, Isaac Mensah, has been sentenced to seven years imprisonment in hard labour by the Tarkwa Circuit Court for indecently assaulting a 14-year-old school girl, who was on an errand to fetch water.

He pleaded guilty and was thus convicted on his own plea.

Prosecuting, Detective Chief Inspector Oscar Amponsah told the Court, presided over by Mr. Justice Emmanuel Bart-Plange Brew, that the victim lived with her parents at ‘4 Miles’, a village, near Damang in the Prestea Huni/Valley District.

He said on July 30 this year, at 0830 hours, the victim left the house to fetch water from the only stand- pipe in the Community.

He said while fetching the water, Mensah, who also resided in the neighbourhood, saw that the victim was alone and thus called her.

The victim responded to Mensah’s call because she knew him as a regular customer to his mother, the Prosecutor said.

Mensah then lured the victim to the outskirts of the village and sexually assaulted her in an old abandoned structure in the bush, he said.

Detective Amponsah told the court that while the victim was coming out from the structure after the act, her mother, who was then searching for her, saw her and dragged her home, where she demanded to know her mission in the abandoned structure. But she did not utter a word.

Upon persistent questioning, the Prosecutor said, the victim narrated her ordeal to her mother who then informed her husband.

With the help of a Unit Committee member, he said, Mensah was arrested on August 8 and handed over to the Police.

Detective Amponsah said Mensah was re-arrested by the Police, while a medical form was issued to the victim to seek medical attention.