The Agona Swedru Circuit Court has sentenced a 33-year-old married man at Agona Asafo to 20 years imprisonment in hard labour for defiling a 10-year-old school girl.
Kobena Manu, who sells ice cream, has three children.
Prosecuting, Police Chief Inspector Isaac Amon told the court, presided over by Ms Abigail Anima Asare, that the accused had been in prison custody for about two years since his arrest, hence the reduced sentence.
Chief Inspector Amon said Manu had been selling ice cream at a cluster of schools at Agona Asafo for more than five years.
Sometime in March 2014, he said, Manu asked the victim, who was friendly with him because of his trade, to send some cooking utensils to his room.
Inspector Amon said when the girl got inside the room, Manu rushed into the room and had sexual intercourse with her.
He said Manu afterwards warned her not to tell anybody about her ordeal otherwise she would die.
Manu, he said, also gave the victim one Ghana cedis and promised to give her an ice cream every day during school hours.
The accused person, who had earlier pleaded not guilty, later pleaded with the court to tamper justice with mercy and pardon him after accepting his guilt and thus changing his plea.
He also promised never to commit the offence again, but the court ignored his plea.
Before giving the sentence, Judge Asare advised parents not to shirk their responsibilities towards their children, especially the girl-child.
She also asked teenage girls, especially those of school-going age, to be cautious when they are sent by men to their rooms.
The Circuit Court judge warned that any adult man who would be brought before her for defilement would not be spared.
She expressed concern about the increasing defilement cases, especially those involving school girls in the Agona Swedru area.
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