Two siblings who engaged in sexual intercourse for years, and produced two children from the relationship, have been sentenced to three years in prison by a Circuit Court in Cape Coast.
The Court also ordered that the children be sent to the Social Welfare Department.
The convicts are John Arthur, alias Ekow Ayiku, 23 and his older sister, Mary Arthur, alias Maame Adwoa, 25
They appeared sober and remorseful in court after pleading guilty to the charge and implored the Court to temper justice with mercy.
Mary broke down in tears and fainted when the judge started reading his sentence, and it took family members around about five minutes to revive her for the judge to continue.
Giving his judgement, the Judge, Mr. Kofi Ametewee, said he took into consideration the fact that Mary had a one-year-old child.
Narrating the facts of the case, the prosecutor, Inspector John Asare Bediako told the Court presided over by Mr Kofi Ametewee that the two siblings have been living together for years and now have two children, a five-year-old boy and a one-year-old girl.
The prosecutor said the accused persons reside at Bronyibima, a suburb of Elmina in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) Municipality of the Central Region.
He said Mary who is a trader had failed to disclose the father of the children despite all efforts by her family members to do so.
In July 2018, the accused lost their grandmother which afforded an opportunity for the chief and elders of the community to deliberate on the issue, and the two confessed having an amorous relationship which resulted in the birth of the two children.
As part of rituals to pacify the gods to avert any curse on the community and the shame brought on the family as a result of their relationship, the two siblings were on Tuesday, October 16, 2018, paraded through the Bronyibima town.
Some family members reported the matter to the police who followed up and arrested the accused persons at the scene and handed them over to the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) in Cape Coast.
During interrogations, they confessed to the crime of incest and were charged under the law.
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Source: GNA