Farmer gets 23 years for sodomy

The Odumase-Krobo Circuit Court has sentenced a 43-year-old farmer at Kordunya, a suburb of Odumase-Krobo, to 23 years imprisonment with hard labour for sodomising a nine-year-old boy.

The convict, Emmanuel Angmorteh, who pleaded guilty to the charge in the open court, however, added that “the child aroused my feelings for sex after he willingly removed his shorts and lay on my bed.”

His explanation annoyed almost everybody in the court room.

The Presiding Judge, Mrs Janet Anuma-Marfo, from Koforidua who stood in for the substantive judge who is on leave, did not waste time at all and handed him with the sentence to applause from thoes present in the court room.

Most people who heard the judge mention 23 years stated: “Good judge. He deserves it. He should go and come to repeat same.”

The Police Investigator, Detective Sergeant Samuel Aryeh, had a hectic time taking the convict out of the court room to the Akuse Prisons as many people were waiting outside to catch glimpses of him.

Some people who spoke to The Mirror said the convict might have committed the crime in order to make more money as that was the latest  “sakawa’’ craze in the area.

The facts of the case, as presented by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Richmond Akwasi Yeboah, are that the victim is a nine-year-old pupil of Zaraphat Preparatory School and lives with his uncle at Odumase-Krobo.

The convict, Angmorteh, is a farmer and resident of Kordunya.

The prosecutor said on May 23, 2017, the victim was sent by his grandmother to buy banana from the Laasi Market at Odumase-Krobo for her.

Prosecution continued that when the victim got to the house of the convict, he asked the child to send the banana to the grandmother and come back.

He said when the victim returned a few minutes later, the convict asked him to follow him into his room on the pretext of showing him something.

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The prosecutor stated that as soon as the victim entered the room, the convict asked him to remove his pair of shorts and lie on his bed.

DSP Yeboah said the convict then inserted his penis into the victim’s anus and forcibly had sexual intercourse with the victim. After the act, Emmanuel gave the victim GH¢1.00 and two pieces of toffee and asked him to go home.

The prosecutor said when the victim returned home late and was interrogated by his uncle, he narrated his ordeal.

The uncle made a report to Domestic Violence and Victim’s Support Unit ( DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service and he was issued with a medical form to send the victim for treatment at the Atua Government Hospital.

DSP Yeboah said the victim became sick for about two months as a result of the pain he suffered.

The uncle of the victim led the police to arrest Angmorteh after he had submitted the medical report from the medical officer at the hospital.

He said the convict admitted the offence in his caution statement.