Teacher gets 17 years for defilement

A 24-year-old teacher who allegedly defiled a five-year-old pupil at a urinal has been sentenced to 17 years in prison with hard labour.

The convict, Nana Yaw Adu Larbi, who was a teacher at the victim’s school at Gbawe, a suburb of Accra, is said to have vowed to give the child some lashes if she disclosed her ordeal to anyone.

He pleaded not guilty to the charge of defilement of a female child under 16 years. The court, presided over by Ms Sediman Agbemava, found him guilty after a full trial and was convicted accordingly.

Prosecuting, Assistantant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Sarah Acquah told the court that victim is a KG2 pupil of the school where the suspect worked. At about 3 p.m. on January 14, this year, the victim felt the urge to urinate while she was waiting for the school bus to take her home.

She said the victim went to use the urinal at the nursery section of the school.  As soon as she entered, Adu Larbi, who had noticed the victim from afar, also followed up and had sex with the child.

The victim started bleeding after the act and her pants was soaked with blood.

When the victim got home at about 5 p.m., the prosecution said, she met her mother’s friend who was washing some clothes and the victim pleaded with her to wash her pants.

As soon as the victim took off her pants, the mother’s friend expressed surprised at the amount of blood in it.

The friend informed the child’s mother and she took the victim to a hospital where the doctor confirmed that she had been defiled.

The doctor interrogated the victim and she mentioned the convict as the culprit.