A 20-year-old food vendor, who hid a 13-year-old girl in his kiosk and sexually abused her for three days, has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by an Accra Circuit Court.

Derrick Mensah, however, maintained he was innocent.

But the Court, presided over by Mrs. Rita Abrokwah-Doko, found Mensah guilty and sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment at the end of the trial.

Prosecuting, Chief Inspector Kofi Atimbire in his narrative said the mother of the victim filed the complaint against Mensah, who delivered Pizza for joints in Accra.

In April last year, Mensah went to the victim’s school at Kotobabi to visit his mother, who sold food on the premise.

During the visit, the Prosecution said Mensah saw the victim and proposed to have a relationship with her but she turned it down.

Chief Inspector Atimbire said on April 6, last year, Mensah went to the school again with his friend, one Eli, on a motorbike, picked up the victim and her friend and sent them to his kiosk at Okpoi-Gonno along the Spintex Road.

On reaching the kiosk, which served as Mensah’s residence, Eli left with the victim’s friend. Mensah then lured the victim into the kiosk and had sex with her over three days.

On April 9, last year, the Prosecutor said Mensah released the victim to go home. When the victim arrived, she narrated her ordeal to her mother, when she quizzed her over her disappearance.

The victim’s mother, subsequently, lodged a complainant with the Police and a medical form was issued to her to seek medical attention for the victim.

Mensah was nabbed on April 13, and in his statement of caution admitted the offence, according to the Prosecutor.