A Gender-Based Violence Court has sentenced Prosper Kouku, a 23-year-old mason to 12 years imprisonment for defiling a 14-year-old girl.

Kouku was charged with defilement. He pleaded not guilty. However, after going through a full trial, the court presided over by Dora Eshun, found Kouku guilty of defiling the minor.

The prosecution, led by Chief Inspector Opoku Aniagyei, presented evidence that Kouku met the victim while she was walking home with her luggage and forcibly had unprotected sex with her in the complainant’s corridor.

The victim is the daughter of the complainant, a 63-year-old security man residing in Accra.

Kouku is currently unemployed and was the complainant’s neighbor.

On July 31, 2024, at about 1400 hours, the victim arrived in Accra from her mother’s place at Kasoa in the Central Region to spend holidays with the complainant.

While the victim was walking home with her luggage, Kouku met her on the way and engaged in a conversation.

Through the conversation, the prosecution said Kouku got to know that the complainant had left her work.

The court heard that Kouku followed the victim to the complainant’s house and forcibly had unprotected sex with the victim in the complainant’s corridor.

The prosecution said, however, the same day, in the evening, the complainant returned home from work and noticed changes in the way the victim walked.

When the complainant quizzed the victim, she narrated her ordeal to him.

On August 2, 2024, the complainant mobilised his friends, arrested, and handed Kouku to the Police.

When questioned by the Police, Kouku denied the offense in his investigation caution statement.

The prosecution said a Police medical form was issued to the complainant to send the victim to the hospital for examination and treatment.

The medical report, endorsed by Dr. Prince E. M. Daitey, Clinical Care Coordinator at Maamobi General Hospital, Accra, indicated that there was evidence of “forceful vaginal penetration and evidence of sexual assault.”