Man, 40, jailed 46 yrs for defiling 2 daughters

A 40-year-old man has been jailed a total of 46 years by the Sekondi Circuit Court for defiling two of his daughters and impregnating one in the process.

The daughters were 14 and 10 years of age.

The convict, Joshua Mensah, was slapped with the jail terms after he pleaded guilty to two counts of incest and two counts of defilement.

He would serve three years for each count of incest and 20 years for each count of defilement.

All the sentences, according to the court, presided over by Mrs Rita Doku, would, however, run concurrently.

In passing her sentence, the presiding judge said she took into consideration the fact that Mensa was a family man and was a first-time offender.

She, however, said she must give a punishment which would serve as a deterrent to people who engage in such despicable acts.

Mrs Doku also cautioned the mother of the children not to neglect them but to take good care of them.

The shock

The incident shocked residents of Daboase after it emerged that a father had for years been having sexual relations with his two daughters and impregnated the eldest, who had to drop out of school as a result.

Earlier during the investigation, the elder daughter told the police that for years now their father had been having regular sex with them so she was unable to recollect the number of times her father had defiled them.

A medical examination on the children at the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Referral Hospital in Sekondi confirmed that the girls had been defiled and that the 14-year-old was pregnant by his father.

The Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit of the Sekondi Police arrested the girls’ father, Mensah, while the children are currently with their mother.

Confession

When Mensah was arrested, he admitted the offence and had been charged with two counts of defilement, two counts of incest and one count of unlawful custody.

Mensah, who was scheduled to appear in court yesterday, did not hesitate to admit his crime and was ready for the judgment of the court as he came face to face with his children.

Background

According to the DOVVSU Coordinator, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mr Frank Nana Assumaning,last week said the parents of the two girls were no more together and the mother had relocated to Accra with the children.

The father, not comfortable with the mother having gained custody of the children, managed to locate them in Accra where they were staying with their grandmother.

In the absence of the grandmother, the suspect sneaks into the house to defile the elderly one.

The 14-year old daughter, who was not comfortable with her father’s behaviour, said she had reported her father’s conduct to her grandmother on several occasions.

However, the grandmother only cautioned them not to tell anybody and that, though it was an abominable act, it was not a new thing.

The DOVVSU coordinator said the father later decided to take the children to the Western Region without informing their mother and grandmother.

Upon their arrival in the Western Region, the convict rented a place at East Tanokrom, where he took the girls to stay with him rather than his original residence at Daboase.

Pregnancy

DSP Assumaning said Mensah later relocated with the children to another part of the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolis where he continued with the act.

He indicated that after realising that his daughter was pregnant, Mensah returned with them to Daboase.

Neighbours then called the mother of the children, Madam Yaa Foriwaa, on telephone to inform her that they suspected her 14-year-old daughter was pregnant.

Madam Foriwaa, the police said, immediately returned to Daboase and to her surprise, she saw that her daughter was pregnant. Upon interrogation, her daughter mentioned her father as the one responsible for her pregnancy.