A Circuit Court at Bekwai in the Ashanti Region has sentenced a 32-year-old man, Augustine Osei, to 16 years imprisonment with hard labour for impregnating his daughter.
The convict was said to have repeatedly defiled the 13-year old. Osei, a native of Ofoase Kokoben, was convicted on his plea of guilty to two counts of defilement and incest, contrary to sections 101 and 105 of the Criminal and Other Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29).
It was revealed that the convict defiled his daughter on three occasions in their family house at Ofoase Kokoben, near Anwia Nkwanta while his pregnant wife, Akua Afriyie, was away.
The man’s actions were revealed when the class five pupil went to a hospital for medical check-up, complaining of feverishness and stomach pains.
During medical examination, it was discovered that she was pregnant.
Upon interrogation, she pointed at her father as the one responsible for the pregnancy.
Police prosecutor, Chief Inspector Dennis Nana Duku, informed the court that the complainant, Yaw Offin, was the grandfather of the victim, while the convict, Augustine Osei, was a farmer and native of Ofoase Kokoben.
According to him, the convict and the girl’s mother, for some time now, had been cohabitating, living like husband and wife in the local community.
Prosecution said they lived together with their 13-year-old daughter and that Osei took advantage of his wife’s absence and forcibly had sexual intercourse with the daughter in July 2014 after inviting the innocent girl to their room.
Chief Inspector Duku narrated that the convict threatened his daughter with death and succeeded in further abusing the child on different occasions till the girl fell ill and was taken to the hospital, where it was revealed that she was pregnant.
The police prosecutor indicated that the girl blew the cover of her father when the mother demanded to know the man responsible for the 21-week pregnancy.
When he was confronted, Osei pleaded for forgiveness. Akua Afriyie subsequently reported the incident to her father who lodged a complaint with the police, leading to the arrest of the convict who admitted to the offence in his caution statement.
He was, therefore, charged and arraigned after police investigations, leading to his eventual conviction.
Source: GhanaWeb
