Mentally challenged convicted for sodomy

A head porter who had anal sex with a seven-year-old boy at Community 18, Lashibi in Accra has been convicted as a criminal lunatic by an Accra Circuit Court.

Nicolas Dzifanu, 22, was sentenced to the Ankaful Asylum for medical treatment until the Ankaful Hospital declares him fit.

Dzifanu had earlier pleaded guilty to the charge of defilement and was convicted on his own plea.

However, after Dzifanu was convicted, it came to the notice of the court that he was mentally challenged.

According to the court, a report from the Accra Psychiatric Hospital and the evidence of the medical officer in charge of the hospital confirmed that Dzifanu had an intellectual disability.

Therefore, Dzifanu can only be released by a presidential pardon which follows recommendations from the Ministry of the Interior.

The matter was forwarded to the Attorney-General’s Department, and it advised that since Dzifanu had been convicted, the court should proceed in sentencing him.

After considering the medical report, the court presided over by Mrs Abena Oppong Adjin-Doku, sentenced Dzifanu to the Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital as a criminal lunatic.

In prosecuting, Chief Inspector Kofi Atimbire told the court that on March 3, 2016 at about 7 p.m., the boy’s mother wanted to bath him but he was nowhere to be found.

Mr Atimbire added that the boy’s mother searched for the boy till midnight when Dzifanu’s grandmother told her she overheard Dzifanu talking to the boy earlier.

“Upon receiving that information, the complainant entered Dzifanu’s room, only to see Dzifanu having anal sex with the boy,” Mr Atimbire informed the court.

The boy’s mother raised an alarm and Dzifanu was dragged to the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU), Baatsona.

A report was made by the boy’s mother and a police medical form was issued to send the boy to the hospital to seek medical care.

Dzifanu was subsequently charged and arraigned before the court.