Bantama gang Rape: Suspects Jailed 36 Months

A Kumasi District Court presided over by Her Worship, Christian Cann has sentenced four suspects for sexual assault at Bantama in the Ashanti region.

The four suspects were sentenced to serve a Senior Correctional Facility for 36 months each.

Three of the suspects were with defilement and conspiracy to defile while the other one was charged with aiding and abetting crime.

In December last year, the police in the Ashanti Region picked up three young men believed to have taken part in an alleged rape gang of a teenage girl which went viral on social media.

The video sparked outrage as the abusers restrained the victim from escaping despite her fierce resistance.

The Kumasi Circuit Court initially sentenced the first suspect in the gang rape incident to seven years in prison with hard labour on May 30.

The suspects and their relatives could not hold back their tears when they stepped out from the court which was heard in camera.

One of the lawyers for the suspects, Yahaya Seidu, described the sentence as “too harsh”, adding that they might appeal the ruling if relatives of the suspects express interest.

“Considering the circumstances, we believe that the sentence was too harsh. All of them are first time offenders and especially because they are juveniles,” he said.

“We put in a plea of mitigation but at the end of the day, the judge with the panel considered that the juveniles should be sent to the senior correction sentence for 3 years. This sentence is the maximum that can be imposed on a juvenile…We were not satisfied with the report and the manner in which it was done. We believe the social welfare did not take their time to do a proper investigation and came out with the report because the order was made on Monday and on Tuesday the report was served on us. Notwithstanding that, we accepted it,” he added.

“We believe that the judge erred, so if the juvenile’s parents are mindful of coming back to us to file an appeal we believe that the judge should have given a reason why she disagrees with the recommended 12 months sentence to one of the juveniles.”

The Social Welfare Department as part of its report indicated that the suspects lacked proper parental care.

Meanwhile, the police and some officers from the Social Welfare Department have begun processes to take the suspects to the Senior Correctional Facility at Mamobi in Accra.