A 47-year-old driver who had sex with his 13-year-old stepdaughter at Tetegu in Accra, has been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment by the Gender-Based Court at the Police Headquarters.
Joseph Yankson is said to have taken advantage of the absence of the victim’s mother and defiled the 13-year-old twice.
He repeated the act after promising to appease the victim’s family with a sheep. Charged with defilement, Yankson pleaded guilty. The court presided over by Dora Eshun Inkumasah convicted Yankson on his plea.
Chief Inspector Opoku Aniagyie, who held the brief of Chief Inspector Simon Tekpor, narrated that the complainant was a teacher and a friend of the mother of the victim. The prosecution said the accused person, now a convict, was the stepfather of the victim. The prosecution contends that the victim, along with her mother, siblings, and the accused person, lived together in a residence located in Tetegu, near Weija in Accra.
In 2023, the prosecution said the victim’s mother travelled to Ajumako in the Central Region to visit some family relations and left the children in the care of the accused person. The Court heard that the accused person took advantage of the absence of his wife and had sexual intercourse with the victim.
The prosecution said the victim informed her mother upon her return. It said the victim’s mother then summoned the accused person before some family heads, and while deliberating on the matter, Yankson admitted the offence and promised to appease the victim’s family with a sheep.
On December 26, 2023, in the evening, Yankson had another sexual intercourse with the victim.
The prosecution said the victim narrated her ordeal to the complainant and on January 4, 2024, a complainant was lodged with the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit, Weija Divisional Police Command, and a medical form was issued to the complainant to send the victim to hospital for examination and treatment.
