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An Accra Circuit Court yesterday handed an 18-year-old trader eight-year jail term for defilement and causing harm to a victim. The convict, Michael Lankwei Odartey, was found guilty of having unlawful carnal knowledge of the victim aged 14. Odartey was also facing an additional charge of causing harm to the victim; an offence he readily admitted in the court presided over by Sedina Agbemeva. The trial judge, however, convicted the accused on his own plea and accordingly sentenced him to seven years for defilement and one year for causing harm. Briefing the court, Inspector Kofi Atimbiri said the complainant, Ebenezer Laryea Akwetey, is the biological father of the victim who lived with her uncle at Teshie, while the accused person, a trader at Teshie, also lived at Labadi. He said on May 2, 2014, the victim went out with her friends to the beach but on their way home, the victim, who was drunk, met Odartey who took advantage of her drunkenness, dragged her into his friend�s wooden structure � which served as a sleeping place � undressed her and forcibly had sexual intercourse with her. Inspector Atimbiri said the victim later woke up and found herself naked and lying on a mattress in the wooden structure with Odartey lying beside her. The victim then realised the accused had taken advantage of her drunkenness to have sex with her. According to the prosecutor, the victim kept the ordeal to herself. He indicated that at about 2:00pm on May 31, the victim was with a friend in a different wooden structure when Odartey came there attacked and sacked the victim�s friend from the scene. He said as soon as the victim�s friend left, Odartey attacked and demanded to have sex with her but she refused. The accused pulled a knife from a bunch of keys and threatened to stab her with it. Inspector Atimbiri further told the court that a struggle ensued between them and in the process Odartey cut the victim�s left hand with the knife. He said the victim�s uncle who heard of the incident rushed to the scene, arrested and handed the accused over to the Nungua Police.