The Tarkwa circuit court has sentenced a farmer to 17 years imprisonment in hard labour for defiling a 12-year-old girl on a farm at Juabeng, near Bogoso, in the Prestea Huni-Valley Municipality.
Isaac Lare, 21, who pleaded not guilty to the charge of defilement, was found guilty by the court, presided over by Hathie Ama Manu, after trial.
Prosecuting, Superintendent of Police Juliana Essel-Dadzie said the complainant in the case is a 40-year-old farmer and father of the victim, a primary five pupil, and resides with the convict at Juabeng; both were neighbours.
He told the court that in December 2021, at about 1500 hours, Isaac’s auntie, one Sambiru, sent him to harvest cassava at her farm at Kokofu in Juabeng, and the victim agreed to accompany him.
The prosecutor said while on the farm, Isaac pounced on the victim, pushed her to the ground, and sexually abused her. After satisfying himself, he warned the victim not to disclose what had happened to anyone, or else she would die.
Out of fear, the victim never informed anyone about the act, but her parents noticed she was continually ill. On September 9, 2022, when the victim fell sick again and was taken to the Wassa Akropong Government Hospital for treatment, she informed the nurses who attended to her about the abuse.
The prosecutor said Isaac left the village after committing the crime, but he was contacted on the phone and asked to return to the village so they could have the matter resolved.
Superintendent Essel-Dadzie said upon Isaac’s arrival in the village on October 11, 2022, he was handed over to the police in Bogoso. Upon interrogation, he admitted the offence in his cautioned statement.