Dear Mirror Lawyer, I am the guardian of a 12-year-old girl who attends junior high school in Gomoa in the Central Region.
She happens to be one of the brilliant students in Form One. On March 6, 2026, she vomited continuously and felt dizzy. I, therefore, took her to the hospital for treatment. The doctor conducted a pregnancy test, and the result showed that she was pregnant.
I asked her who was responsible for her pregnancy. Initially, she was unwilling to disclose the person's identity, but upon further interrogation, she disclosed that her 30-year-old youth leader in church was responsible.
I confronted him, and he told me that the girl agreed to the sexual intercourse upon receiving GH₵ 500 from him.
This explanation implied the young girl had practised prostitution, which I do not believe.
She will now have to drop out of school, which I fear will affect her education and future. What should I do?
Bertha, Cape Coast.
Dear Bertha, your ward’s situation falls under criminal law. Under this law, an act is considered a crime when a law states it is a crime, and its punishment is stated in that law.
Section 101 of the Criminal Act, 1960 (Act 29) makes the defilement of a child under 16 years a crime. Defilement is generally a violation of something considered sacred, making it dirty, impure, foul or unclean.
In the legal definition, defilement is the natural or unnatural carnal knowledge of a child under 16 years of age, whether with or without the consent of the child.
Carnal knowledge is the penetration of the penis into an opening in the female body. Where it is through the vagina, it is natural carnal knowledge, and where it is through the anus, it is unnatural.
Either way, once the evidence establishes that the child is below 16 years old, the crime has been committed; it is irrelevant whether the child gave or did not give consent.
Under section 101(1) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), the punishment for defiling a child under the age of 16 in Ghana is a minimum of seven years and a maximum of 25 years imprisonment.
So, a person who naturally or unnaturally carnally knows a child under 16 years of age is said to have committed defilement, and that person shall be imprisoned for not less than seven years and not more than 25 years.
Here, the consent of the victim (survivor) or the child is not necessary or relevant. The offender cannot rely on the fact that the child agreed to sexual intercourse.
Where a crime is committed against a person, that crime is said to have been committed against the State. The State, acting through the Attorney General, can prosecute such a person.
The person against whom the crime is committed only acts as a witness. He cannot force the State to prosecute the offender. The State will only prosecute the offender if there is evidence available and it will be in the public interest to do so.
The witness or a person acting on behalf of the victim must take steps to notify the State of such an incident by reporting the case to the police.
The police, acting with the Attorney-General, will conduct an investigation to gather evidence, and the Attorney-General will decide whether the offender should be prosecuted or not.
In your ward’s situation, a clear case of defilement can be made against the youth leader. The reason is that your daughter is 12 years of age, which is less than 16; the perpetrator confirmed that he had sex with her, which led to your daughter's pregnancy.
The fact that your daughter consented to the sexual intercourse after receiving the GH¢500 is irrelevant and cannot inure to the benefit of the youth leader.
I therefore advise that you report the case to the nearest police station so that the police and the Attorney-General can take further action.
