The Tamale High Court, presided over by His Lordship Justice Charles Kwesi Acheampong, has sentenced 48-year-old Abdallah Mohammed to 15 years imprisonment with hard labour after convicting him on a charge of defilement involving a 14-year-old girl.
The convict was also handed an additional six-month jail term for perjury after the court found that he lied under oath during cross-examination.
During the lengthy trial, one of the key issues before the court was the age of the victim. While the prosecution maintained that the victim was 14 years old, the convict argued that she was 18, claiming that her physical appearance and conversations with him suggested she was an adult.
The defence further challenged a birth certificate tendered by the prosecution after producing a report from the Births and Deaths Registry indicating that the document could not be found in its records.
Despite the challenge, the court relied on testimonies from the victim and her guardian, as well as evidence from earlier Circuit Court proceedings, and held that the prosecution had proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the victim was 14 years old.
The court consequently convicted Abdallah Mohammed on the charge of defilement and sentenced him to 15 years imprisonment with hard labour.
However, the accused was acquitted on a separate abortion charge after the court ruled that the prosecution failed to prove that he induced the victim to terminate the pregnancy.
