Carpenter sentenced 10 years for defilement

By Ruth Oppong Nyarko
An Accra Circuit Court Presided over by Mrs Mensah Datsa has sentenced Richard Kofi Gakpe to 10 years imprisonment with hard labour for defilement.
The convict, Gakpe, pleaded guilty to the offence.
According to prosecution, the convict, a carpenter, lives at Haatso, a suburb of Accra, while the victim is a Class Three pupil who sells sachet water when on holidays.
On May 5, 2009 the victim went to Madina Atomic Junction to sell water, where the convict bought one and drank.
Gakpe later told the victim to follow him to a construction site where the labourers needed some water. On reaching a bush path that leads to Legon, the convict held the victim and requested to have sex with her, but she refused and tried to run away.
The convict, however, gagged her so she could not scream, beat her and forcibly had sex with her. She also struggled with him and started screaming which drew the attention of security men at the Ghana Hostels to her rescue.
According to the prosecutor, the convict on seeing the security man took to his heels. The victim was taken to the police station where a complaint was made.
On October 28, 2009 whilst the victim was selling at Madina Zongo Junction she saw the convict and alerted those nearby who helped to arrest the convict to the police station.
During interrogations the convict confessed committing the crime.