08/10/2026
87-year-old man jailed 20 years for defiling neighbour’s 9-year-old daughter
An 87-year-old man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after repeatedly sexually abusing a nine-year-old girl who lived near him at Ofankor in Accra.
Yaw Gahornu was sentenced by the Police Headquarters Gender-Based Violence Court after pleading guilty to two counts of defilement.
The court imposed 10 years on each count, with the sentences to run consecutively. He was discharged on a charge of unnatural carnal knowledge.
The disturbing abuse came to light after the girl’s mother, a 42-year-old trader, returned home from work on August 29, 2026, and noticed blood stains on her daughter’s underwear.
When she asked the child what had happened, the girl identified Gahornu, who lived in a wooden structure about 40 metres from their home, as the person who had been sexually abusing her whenever she went out to play.
According to the prosecution, the abuse had continued from July until August 31, when Gahornu was caught in the act.
The prosecution, led by Chief Inspector Opoku Aniagyei, told the court that Gahornu had also threatened to kill the girl if she disclosed the abuse to her mother.
The case came to a head on August 31 when Gahornu was allegedly found sexually abusing the girl by his granddaughter, who reported the incident to her uncle. The uncle then informed the girl’s mother, leading to a report to the police.
The girl was subsequently referred for medical examination.
Police said the child was in stable condition but had suffered lower abdominal pain, painful urination and faecal incontinence following the abuse.
Gahornu, an unemployed man, admitted the two counts of defilement and was convicted on his own plea.
The court noted that he was a first-time offender, had pleaded guilty without wasting the court’s time and had already spent a month in lawful custody.
It nevertheless imposed the 20-year sentence, citing the increasing incidence of the offence and the need for the punishment to serve as a deterrent to others.
The case highlights the vulnerability of children to sexual abuse within communities, particularly where perpetrators have easy access to them.
Gahornu is to serve the two 10-year sentences consecutively.
