The Ofaakor Circuit court has sentenced a 49-year-old man to ten years in prison for sodomizing a 17-year old Junior High School (JHS) student at Amanfrom, a suburb of Kasoa in the Central Region.
The convict, Joseph Narh was found guilty by the court presided over by His Lordship Ebenezer Osei Darko.
In an interview with Citi News, the mother of the victim said she was satisfied with the judgment.
“The man is a wicked man and I am so happy. Those in the area with the man have seen him sodomize other boys. That is why I reported him to the police station after I took my son to the hospital. I am very happy that he has been sentenced.”
Ghana needs specific laws on homosexuality – Lawyer
A private legal practitioner, Yaw Oppong had earlier called for a specific law in the country to make homosexuality a criminal offence.
He said although there are some provisions in the Criminal Code under which a homosexual can be prosecuted especially for having intercourse with a partner, a specific law must be enacted to declare homosexual relationship an illegality.
Yaw Oppong stated that the view was captured in the last Constitutional Review Committee report as those of many Ghanaians however the committee failed to back it in its recommendation except to say the courts must be allowed to make a determination on it.
“Sadly, when the Constitutional Review Commission was going round, in their report they said that majority of Ghanaians said that they want specific laws on this [homosexuality] matter; that we abhor it, it is a criminal offence, and [we should] provide a serious punishment for it but their [the Committee’s] recommendation was that we leave it to the court to determine,” he said.
Yaw Oppong, therefore, suggested that just as a specific law was recently passed to address the issue of vigilantism; same should be done for homosexuality.