A 32-year-old teacher who defiled his 12-year-old pupil has been sentenced to 12 years by the Odumase-Krobo Circuit Court.
Hondana Mensah is reported to have taught the girl in class and also gave her private French lessons for close to four years, a relationship of trust the court heard he ultimately abused inside the family’s own home.
Presiding judge Kwasi Appiatse Abaidoo convicted Mensah of defilement, an offence under Section 101(2) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), as amended by Section 18 of Act 554, after prosecutors laid out their case.
Prosecuting, Chief Inspector Godsway Kromoah told the court that the girl, a Class Six pupil, lives with her mother, a 43-year-old businesswoman, at Combine, near Akosombo.
On July 11, 2026, the mother noticed something different about the way her daughter was walking and pressed her for an explanation. That was when the child revealed what had happened three days earlier. She revealed that at around 5pm on July 8, while Mensah was at the house conducting one of the girl’s lessons, he had sex with her.
Court documents show Mensah tried to keep the child silent afterwards, warning her that speaking out would bring shame on her family, and further threatened to fail her in his subject when end-of-term exams came round.
Once the mother reported the matter, police took statements from both her and the child, and a medical examination at a government hospital returned findings consistent with sexual assault.
Police arrested Mensah on July 12, 2026. He denied the allegation in his cautioned statement, but investigators went on to charge him with defilement, and he was arraigned before the Odumase-Krobo Circuit Court.
Handing down the 12-year sentence, the court said it was meant to serve as a deterrent against sexual offences targeting children and other vulnerable people.
