Man remanded in prison custody for incest

Tema, Sept. 04, GNA - A Tema Circuit Court on Tuesday remanded Godfred Okansey 41 a businessman from Tema Community One Site 18 into prison custody for incest.

He pleaded not guilty and would re-appear on Tuesday, September 25. Police Chief Inspector Sarah Acquah, prosecuting told the court presided over by Mr Charles Asiedu that sometime in March this year, a fight ensued between the accused and his 17-year-old daughter when she allegedly refused to continue a "sexual relationship" they had developed since she was 10.

She said the victim who is a student lives with her parents and when her mother arrived from town and found them fighting she enquired from the victim the cause of the fight, when she over heard the victim threatening to report the father's conduct to her mother. The prosecution said Okansey who was not happy with the wife's enquiry, pounced on her and beat her mercilessly, leading to her hospitalisation at Pro-Vital Hospital for some days.

She said after her discharge from the hospital, the victim told her mother that her father started defiling her since she was 10 years old and had since been harassing her and when she refused on that day they fought.

Police Chief Inspector Acquah said when the accused was summoned by Mr Karbutey Doku, his uncle and other members of the family, he admitted saying, 'I did it only twice'.

She said the matter was reported to the police by the family who arrested the accused and issued the victim with a medical form for examination.

The prosecution said the medical report revealed that, victim's hymen had long been broken. Counsel for the accused applying for bail, told the court that his client's wife was only blackmailing her husband because the accused threatened to eject them from his house.