Tamale Court sentences man to 15 years for defiling and impregnating 14-year-old girl

Correspondence from Mumuni Yunus, Northern Region

The Tamale District Court has sentenced 48-year-old Abdallah Mohammed to 15 years in prison after he was found guilty of defiling and subsequently aborting the pregnancy of a 14-year-old girl at Nyanshegu, a suburb of Tamale.

The court also sentenced Mohammed to six months in prison for perjury and he will serve both sentences concurrently.

In February this year, Police in Tamale arrested the suspect after the family reported the matter. The family told police she left home on February 13, only to return on February 15.

After an initial investigation by her parents, the girl revealed that she had been having unprotected sex with Mohammed, a businessman and a resident of Sakasaka.

Further police investigations, according to the Northern Regional Police Command, revealed that the victim was given GHS30 for the three times he lured her to have sex with him.

After having informed the accused of the pregnancy, he took her to a private health facility at Sognayili, also a suburb of Tamale, and caused the abortion of the pregnancy, after claiming to be an uncle of the victim and that the victim was 18 years old.

He was subsequently arraigned before the Tamale District Court on charges of defilement and perjury, the latter added after he was found to have given false testimony under oath.

After three months of trial, the court found Mohammed guilty of both charges and handed him the sentence.

Sulemana Zakaria Barak, a youth activist based in Tamale who led the social media campaign for the prosecution of Mohammed, told GhanaWeb after the court sentence on Monday that the ruling is a bold statement against child abuse and defilement.

He said the ruling is also a victory for every child.

“I am happy that justice has been served. It is not a victory for the survivor alone or the activists but for every child. We must protect children from societies that look down upon their rights and destroy their future. Today’s victory is bold statement against child abuse” Zakaria Barak said.