Tamale court jails man 15 years for defilement

A dispute over the age of a teenage girl has ended with a 15-year prison sentence for 48-year-old Abdallah Mohammed.

The Tamale High Court found him guilty of defiling the girl, who the prosecution said was 14 at the time of the offence.

The court, presided over by Justice Charles Kwesi Acheampong, sentenced Mohammed to 15 years’ imprisonment with hard labour.

He was also given an additional six months for perjury after the court found that he lied under oath during cross-examination.

Throughout the trial, Mohammed denied knowing that the victim was a minor.

He claimed she was 18, saying her physical appearance and conversations with him made him believe she was an adult.

His lawyers also challenged a birth certificate relied on by the prosecution.

They produced a report from the Births and Deaths Registry indicating that the certificate could not be traced in the registry’s records.

The court, however, did not accept the defence position.

Justice Acheampong considered the testimony of the victim and her guardian, together with evidence from earlier proceedings before the Circuit Court.

He held that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that the complainant was 14 years old when the offence was committed.

Mohammed was accordingly convicted of defilement.

The court, however, cleared him of a separate abortion charge.

Justice Acheampong ruled that the prosecution had not proved that Mohammed caused or induced the victim to terminate a pregnancy.