Father jailed 10 years for defilement, incest
The Sogakope Circuit Court has sentenced a 48-year-old farmer, Christopher Atakli, to 10 years imprisonment for defilement and incest, after sexually abusing his 13-year-old daughter.
Atakli, a resident of Mafi Devime in the Central Tongu District, was sentenced on his own plea on two counts of defilement of a female under 16 years of age and incest, contrary to sections 101 and 105 (1) of the Criminal Offences Act 29/60 respectively.
The prosecution, led by D/Inspector Nene Oman VI, told the court, presided over by Joseph Naadado Mcaly, that the offences occurred in November 2025 at Mafi Devime.
It was the case of the prosecution that sometime in 2022, the convict relocated the victim from her mother’s care in Dawhenya to Mafi Devime. After enrolling her in school, the accused began a pattern of repeated sexual abuse that continued for several years.
The court was told that the victim sought help from her paternal grandfather and an aunt on multiple occasions, but no action was taken to intervene.
The victim reportedly developed a genital infection characterised by an abnormal discharge because of the abuse which went on for some time.
Fearing further abuse, the victim eventually fled her father’s home and sought refuge in the Mepe township in the North Tongu District.
The prosecution stated that, following her disclosure of the ordeal to the authorities, the assembly member for the area intervened and the matter was reported to the police.
The Ghana News Agency gathered that the police and the investigators from the National Investigation Bureau (NIB) subsequently issued a medical report for the victim's examination and treatment after they visited the scene of the crime and took forensic photographs.
Residents expressed frustration on the rising defilement and incest incidents in the enclave and called for swift stakeholder intervention.
They lauded the Police and the NIB for their day-to-day support for the vulnerable victims and urged that they continued to protect the lives of the residents. — GNA
