A 31-YEAR-OLD self-styled spiritualist has been incarcerated to 12 years imprisonment by the Tema Circuit Court ‘B’ for defiling a 14-year-old Junior High School (JHS) pupil in his shrine.
The convict, David Narteh, who doubles as a herbalist was charged with abduction, assault, defilement and threat of death by court presided over by Ms. Mariama Sambo.
He pleaded not guilty to the four charges levelled against him but after a long trail he was found guilty and sentenced on each count after pleading for mitigation.
According to the fact read to the court by the prosecutor, Chief Inspector Samuel Dadzie said, on February 2, 2019 at about 9:00pm, the mother of the victim closed from church with her and decided to leave her behind for an errand. The victim who felt hungry at night, 11:30pm, decided to go out for food. She was returning home after buying the food when she was approached by the accused that he was a neighbour watch committee volunteer and wanted to escort her home.
He told the victim an announcement had been made that nobody should be seen outside at that odd hour and as such he was taking her to the police station instead. On reaching the police station the accused did not stop which caused the victim to be scared.
After a hot chase by the accused, he dragged her to his room and locked her up. In her attempts to escape, she tried using a screw driver to open the window but failed. On his return, he threatened the victim to kill her with a cutlass if she did not remove her dress.
The victim who was afraid obliged and the accused forcibly had sexual intercourse with her. He kept the victim in his room overnight and later sent her to his shrine attached to his room and made her swear that she would not voice out to anybody about the ordeal and if she dared disclosed it, she would die.
Immediately after swearing, he had another round of sex with her at the shrine and attempted to give the victim an amount of GH₵5 for transport which she rejected, after he bought the victim gentian violet for her wounds.
The victim who was helpless and traumatized returned home the following morning at about 5:00am and narrated her ordeal to her mother. Without wasting time, the mother lodged compliant with the Prampram Police and a medical form was issued to the victim to attend hospital for examination and treatment.
The accused was later arrested and the case referred to Tema Regional office of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service for further investigation.
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