The Juaso Circuit Court has sentenced a 39-year old mason, Kwame Acquah, to 18 years imprisonment for defiling an invalid.
He had pleaded guilty to the offence.
Chief Inspector Emmanuel Ofori told the court, presided over by Justice Alex Obeng-Asante, that the victim, age 10, lives with the grandmother, Aku Yormley, at Abekobon, a farming community near Kyempo in the Asante-Akim South District.
He said on October 11, the young girl had been asked to carry some groundnuts to her father, just on the outskirt of the village.
He said the convict trailed her, pretending to be going to the farm and when the two got to a place where nobody could see them the accused grabbed the victim, pulled her into the bush and sexually assaulted her.
Chief Inspector Ofori said a week later, the grandmother noticed some changes in the gaiety of the victim and she explained her ordeal after some prodding.
A formal report was then made to the police and he was arrested.