Court remands farmer for defilement

Akim Oda (E/R), Jan. 12, GNA - Kofi Baah Aryee, a farmer at Akim Adu= asa who gagged a 12-year-old school dropout and forcibly had sex with her, has been remanded in prison custody by an Akim Oda Magistrate Court in the Biri= m Central Municipality. Aryee, 35, pleaded not guilty and would reappear on February 8. Prosecuting, Detective Inspector Kingsley Antwi told the court preside= d over by Mr Albert Owusu Annor that the complainant was a farmer and father of the victim, who lived at Akim Aduasa where the accused person also resided. The prosecutor said the girl lived with her aunt, but often went to he= r father in the evenings for her supper and that on May 25, last year at abou= t 2200 hours when returning from her father's house to her aunt's to slee= p, Aryee emerged from the darkness and held the girl. According to the prosecutor, when the girl was shouting, the accused gagged her and took her to his room where he removed her pants and forcibly had sex with her. The victim reported the ordeal to her father who also made a report to the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service at Akim Oda. She was issued with a medical form to attend the Oda Government Hospital, he said. Inspector Antwi stated that the accused absconded after committing the crime, until the complainant spotted him at Akim Swedru on January 4, this year and informed the police who arrested him.