Juju will not help you — Judge tells accused (Saturday, February 22, 2014) front

An attempt by a mason, Emmanuel Gyau, to use spiritual intervention in a case in which he is accused of defiling a 13–year-old girl yielded no effect when the judge told him “the law is the law, incantations will not help you.”

Gyau, throughout the hearing of the case in which he allegedly defiled and impregnated the girl, kept closing his eyes and murmuring inaudible words.

But the presiding judge at the Accra Circuit Court, Ms Ellen Vivian Amoah, urged him to forget about the incantations.

The court found him guilty but deferred sentencing to February 24, 2014.

Gyau had earlier pleaded not guilty to the charge of defilement but changed his plea to guilty with explanation last Tuesday, February 11, 2014.

Accused pleads

Gyau pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy.
“I will accept the pregnancy and look after the girl to be delivered of the baby. Please temper justice with mercy.”

Earlier, while admitting to sleeping with the victim, Gyau maintained that he did not force her into the act but rather proposed love to her.

Facts of the case

Presenting the facts of the case, Inspector Kofi Atimbire said the complainant in the case, Ms Leticia Afotey, is the sister-in-law of the victim and lived in the same vicinity at Nungua, a suburb of Accra, with Gyau.

Sometime in December last year, the victim and her younger brother went to town to sell satchet water.

Gyau approached the victim to buy some but unknown to the victim, Gyau had the intent to sleep with her.

Mr Atimbire said to carry out his intention, Gyau sent the victim’s younger brother to go and buy him biscuits and as soon as the young boy left the scene, Gyau held and dragged the victim into a wooden structure which served as his sleeping place, and sexually abused her.

To muffle her shout for help, Gyau used his hand to cover her mouth.

After the act, Gyau abandoned the crying victim in the wooden structure until she was helped to come out by her younger brother who had then returned from running the errand.
Gyau returned to the scene and gave GH¢3 to the victim as transport.

“The victim kept her ordeal, but kept reporting sick periodically,” Mr Atimbire said.

He said this made Ms Afotey, who suspected that the victim was pregnant, to interview her following which she mentioned Gyau as the culprit.

The complainant then reported the matter to the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU).
Ultimately, a hospital confirmed that the victim was two months-and-a week pregnant