A forty-year old trader, Owusu Banahene, was on Monday handed a 25-year jail term by a Kumasi Circuit Court for defiling a 12-year old pupil. Banahene who pleaded guilty to the charge of defilement, was convicted on his own plea by the court, presided over by Mr. Emmanuel Arno Yartey. Giving his ruling, Mr. Yartey said he was guided by the fact that the convict was not a first offender and had been convicted for a similar offence and as such was not prepared to mend his ways. When the court sought clarity on the prosecution's claim that he had once been convicted on a similar offence, Banahene got the courtroom laughing when he confirmed the claim and added, “I have been to prison only once”. On what led him to commit such act, Banahene blamed it on the devil and claimed that he had been abandoned by his family. His explanation however, did not sway the presiding judge, who sentenced him to 25-years with hard labour. Presenting the facts of the case, Chief Inspector Comfort Baffour Kyei, said the complainant and the convict were both traders and lived at Antoa, a suburb of Kumasi. She said the victim was the granddaughter of the complainant and that at about 2:00.p.m. on May 22, Banahene who also doubled as a porter, was carrying bags of flour and gallons of oil from the outskirts of Antoa. C/Insp. Kyei said on reaching the complainant’s frontage, Banahene saw the victim standing there and asked her to assist him by carrying one of the gallons of oil. According to the prosecution, when they got to their destination, the convict took advantage of the absence of the owner of the goods, laid the victim on the kitchen floor and had carnal knowledge of her. She said after the act, Banahene warned the victim not to disclose it to anyone less he would evoke the wraths of the dreaded Antoa god on her. However, C/Insp. Kyei said a few days after the act, the victim fell ill and was sent to the hospital for treatment. She said the victim’s grandmother later got wind of the defilement and reported the matter to the police who issued a police medical form to the victim to attend hospital. She said the medical report confirmed that the victim had been defiled and on June 15, this year, the police arrested Banahene. In his caution statement, he admitted the offence and was therefore convicted accordingly. Source: The Ghanaian Times/Ghana