Burkinabe who thought it was normal to have sex with a minor jailed

A 19-year-old Burkinabe will spend the next eight years in prison for defiling a minor, who he claimed could make him impotent after seeing his genital. 

He claimed the illicit affair was meant to save his fertility.

The convict, Somé Amos, who is a cleaner at a shop belonging to the victim’s mother, was sentenced by the Accra Circuit Court.

He told the court that it was normal in his country for a male to have intercourse with a female once she had seen his manhood, else he would become impotent in the future.

So, for fear of not becoming a father in the near future, Amos had sex with the 12-year-old girl.

He pleaded not guilty to the charge of defilement, but the court presided over by Christiana Cann, found him guilty.

The court held that due to the age of the victim and the fact that such situations are on the rise in the society, it is only right to sentence him to serve as a deterrent to other would-be offenders.

The court also drew the attention of the Burkinabe national that it was a crime in Ghana to have sex with anyone without their consent.

Facts of the case

The facts, as presented by the prosecutor, Sergeant Opoku Aniagyei, were that in May 2020, the complainant, the mother of the victim, went to the market, leaving the girl at her shop.

He said while the girl was waiting for her mother to return from the market, Amos went around to do his usual cleaning at the shop.

Sergeant Aniagyei said while the victim was washing plates, the man came from behind and held her down.

He made the victim hold the sink in the washroom and removed her panties.

Amos also removed his trouser to knee level, the victim screamed for help, but nobody went to her rescue.

He then inserted his penis into the victim’s vagina and had sexual intercourse with her.

“After the ordeal, the victim saw blood oozing from her vagina, so she took her bath and changed her dress,” Sergeant Aniagyei said.

On the same day, the victim’s elder sister while washing noticed blood stains on her sister’s clothes.

She informed her mother, who confronted the victim but she failed to disclose the incident.

The complainant thought the victim had menstruated but two weeks later, she saw another flood flow again.

She confronted her and she narrated her ordeal this time.

The prosecution said the complainant reported the matter to the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit of the Ghana Police Service when she became aware of the act.

He added that a police medical form was issued to the complainant to send her daughter to the hospital for examination and treatment and secure a medical report. Amos was subsequently arrested for the offence.

Research by theghanareport.com has revealed that 96 children below ages of 15 were defiled in Accra alone for 2019.

The figure constitutes the number of only reported cases being tried at the Accra Circuit in 2019.

Many experts say this figure could be more as parents of rape victims, for fear of social rejection and “shame” refuse to report such incidents to authorities.

In some cases, even when the cases are reported, the intervention of highly placed persons lead to these cases being withdrawn to be settled at home. Also, in some cases, compensations are offered to the victim and family.

And this is the scenario across the length and breadth of the country, which suggests that a lot more girls are defiled almost on daily basis.