The High Court in Accra has sentenced Moro Haruna, a 46-year-old unemployed individual, to 15 years in prison for raping a 16-year-old virgin, a biscuit seller in Domeabra.
Haruna, affectionately called Farouk, was found guilty of the charge of rape after a seven-member jury panel returned a 5-2 majority verdict of guilty.
Prior to his conviction, Haruna had pleaded not guilty, and the prosecution, led by Joyce Tindana, had to prove their case for the jury panel to accept.
The defence lawyer, Okyere Kuma, from Legal Aid, who was represented, pleaded for mitigation, praying the Court to deal leniently with the convict, who is a first-time offender.
The defence urged the Court to exercise discretion favourably towards the convict, who had participated fully in the trial and cooperated with investigations.
In his plea for mitigation, Counsel further argued that the convict is the breadwinner of his family and the only caretaker of his mother, who is ill.
Joyce Tindana, the Senior State Attorney, addressed the Court, saying the discretionary power of sentencing has been conferred on the judge by statute and “must be exercised in accordance with legal principles”.
By majority decision (5-2), she said the prosecution prayed that in exercising discretion, the Court must punish the convict within the remit of the law.
She asked for a fair and reasonable sentence based on the evidence and time spent in Court during the pendency of the case.
Justice Mary Maame Ekue Yanzuh, a Justice of the Court of Appeal sitting with additional responsibility as a High Court judge, prior to handing down her sentence, said she took into consideration the mitigation factors.
The Court also said it took into account the fact that the convict is a first-time offender and the six months he spent on remand.
The Court also considered the assault the convict had on the victim before sexually abusing her. Justice Yanzuh said the Court took into consideration the fact that the victim, a 16-year-old virgin, had to give her virginity away without consent.
The convict is consequently sentenced to 15 years in hard labour.
Brief facts
Per the brief facts of the case, the complainant, Prosper Gagoba, is the father of the victim, now 22.
The accused (now convict), Moro Haruna alias Farouk, 41, now 47, is unemployed and lives at Domeabra.
The prosecution said on May 1, 2021, at about 5:00 pm, the victim was hawking biscuits at Domeabra when the suspect (now convicted) called her to buy some.
As she gave the biscuits to the suspect, he held her hand, and the victim got scared and asked him to release her hand, but he refused, so the victim started shouting.
The prosecution explained that the suspect told her no one would come to her aid and pulled her into his room. The victim struggled with the suspect to free herself, but the suspect pushed her, and she fell down, hitting her head on the floor.
The suspect pulled her dress up, removed her panty, and inserted his fingers into her vagina. The victim continued struggling to free herself, but the suspect covered her mouth and nose with his hands until she became unconscious.
When the victim became conscious, she realised that she was totally naked and was lying on the bare floor, while the suspect was sitting in a plastic chair holding a knife.
The victim pleaded with the suspect to let her go and promised not to disclose her ordeal to anyone.
The victim, on the same day, informed her father of her ordeal, and he lodged a complaint with DOVVSU, where a Police Medical Form was issued to the complainant to send the victim to the hospital for medical examination.
