Father of boy in anal sex with three-old girl says son mentally ill

Accra, Feb. 12, GNA - The case in which an 18 year-old boy alleged to have anal sex with a three year-old girl took a dramatic turn on Tuesday when the father of the accused person produced an Accra Psychiatric Hospital Attendance Card to indicate that his son is mentally ill.

Richard Odoom, the accused person, is alleged to have had carnal knowledge with the victim who underwent surgery at the Korle Teaching Hospital after she was sodomised.

The victim, who bled profusely, passed urine and faeces through her private parts.

When the court asked the time Odoom, a footballer, attended the hospital, his father, a policeman, mentioned May 21, 2007, which is seven months after the offence was committed.

When court further asked where the accused had been, the police officer said his son was receiving treatment at a prayer camp adding, "due to his state of mind he was going anywhere". After the charge was read out to Odoom in Akan he declined to talk but following persistent prompting he told the court that he did not know anything about the event.

Based on his response the court, presided over Mrs Georgina Mensah-Datsa entered a plea of not guilty for him and remanded him into prison custody to reappear on February 19.

Chief Inspector Ben Darfor, the prosecutor, told the court that the three-year-old girl lived with her parents at Gomoa Ekwamkrom in the Central Region. At about 2300 hours on December 3, 2006, the accused, who was with his friends, left their company and lured the victim into a room and had sex with her.

The prosecution said when the accused saw that he could not penetrate through the normal part he had sex with the victim through her anus. Prosecution said the victim bled profusely and was passing urine and faeces through her private parts. The victim was rushed to a hospital in the area and later transferred to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital where she underwent surgery.

The prosecutor said on December 16, 2007 when the accused was arrested he blamed the devil as the cause of his action. The case was transferred from the Central Region to the Greater Accra Region following a petition to the Chief Justice.