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A 26-year-old mason has been sentenced to 16 years imprisonment with hard labour for defiling a four-year-old girl. The convict, Godwin Edem Boamah, pleaded not guilty to the charge of defilement but the court, presided over by Ms Sedinam Agbemava, found him guilty after a full trial and was convicted accordingly. Boamah was said to have forcibly defiled the victim and threatened to kill her if she disclosed her ordeal to anyone. Delivering judgement, Ms Agbemava said she took into consideration a medical report that was issued on behalf of the victim. She said the report indicated that there was a swelling on the victim�s private part which had caused the child pains. She held that although the case happened in 2012 and the victim testified in 2013, she could still remember what the convict did to her and narrated the incidence simply by saying �Bro Edem puts his sausage in my weewe.� The trial judge also indicated that prosecution was able to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt. �Prosecution called three witnesses to make their case while the convict, who was only represented by his counsel, did not call any witness.� The counsel for the convict, Mr Kofi Bonney, prayed the court to spare his client a long custodial sentence since he had shown remorse and was a first offender. However, Ms Agbemava stated that �I will give him a harsh sentence because they are neighbours and he is on very good terms with the victim�s mother. Why do you take delight in abusing the child? Sexually molested children go through some psychological trauma and they grow up with so much pain in them.� �I will give him the maximum of 16 years in hard labour,� she added. Prosecution, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mrs Sarah Acquah, had told the court earlier that the complainant was the victim�s mother who lived in the same vicinity as the convict at Gbawe, Zero in Accra. She said on November 2012, the complainant and the victim went to a nearby house to wash clothes. At the time, the convict was also working in the same area. The victim, on seeing the convict, left her mother to join Boamah at his work place. While the complainant was concentrating on her washing, ASP said the convict lured the victim to an enclosed area and defiled her. Prosecution said the convict threatened the victim with death if she disclosed the ordeal to anyone. The victim, who could no longer bear the pains in her private part anytime she was being bathed by the mother, then disclosed the ordeal she had gone through to her.