Tamale High Court jails man 15 years for defiling 14-year-old girl

The Tamale High Court has sentenced 48-year-old Abdallah Mohammed to 15 years in prison with hard labour after convicting him for defiling a 14-year-old girl.

Presiding judge Charles Kwesi Acheampong also handed the convict an additional six-month prison sentence for perjury after finding that he gave false testimony while under oath during cross-examination.

A central issue in the case was the age of the victim. Prosecutors maintained that the complainant was 14 years old, while Mohammed argued that she was 18, claiming her appearance and conversations led him to believe she was an adult.

The defence further questioned the authenticity of a birth certificate submitted by the prosecution, citing a report from the Births and Deaths Registry which stated that the document could not be found in its database.

Despite this, the court relied on the testimony of the victim and her guardian, together with evidence presented during earlier Circuit Court proceedings.

Justice Acheampong ruled that the prosecution had successfully proven beyond reasonable doubt that the victim was 14 years old at the time of the offence and subsequently convicted Mohammed on the defilement charge.

However, the court cleared him of a separate abortion-related charge, concluding that prosecutors had failed to prove he caused the victim to terminate a pregnancy.