Two boys who gang raped 13-year-old girl get two-and-a-half years

Two boys who gang raped a 13-year-old girl at Bokro in the Ahanta West District of the Western Region have been convicted and handed a two-and-a-half-year jail term each.

The class six pupils, all 13 years, though pleaded not guilty to the charges of defilement, were found guilty by the Takoradi Circuit Court after full trial. They will serve the jail term at the Borstal Home because they are juveniles.

Prosecutors told the court that the two boys proposed love to the victim (name withheld) and dragged her to an uncompleted building where they tied her hands and forcibly had sex with her in turns.

Chief Inspector Veronica Tibson who prosecuted the case said both the accused persons and the victim live in the same community.

On November 4, 2017 at about 6:00pm, the victim’s grandfather sent her to collect cassava peels from a neighbour to feed his animals.

According to the prosecution, the victim upon reaching the neighbour’s house was asked to go back to bring a bigger sack since the quantity of the cassava peel was large.

While returning to the neighbour's house, the victim met the accused persons sitting on a culvert along the route.

One of them, according to the prosecution, proposed love to the victim and the two dragged her to a nearby-uncompleted building where they tied her hands and had sexual intercourse with her.

They warned her after not to disclose her ordeal to anyone else she would die.

The victim went home crying but due to the threat of the boys, did not tell anyone about her ordeal despite persistent interrogation by her grandfather.

The following day, however, the victim broke her silence and narrated her traumatic experience to the grandfather who lodged a complaint with the Police leading to the arrest of the two teenagers.

Medical test run on the victim proved she had been defiled, following which the boys were charged and put before court.