34-year-old Sawla SHS teacher jailed 15 years for raping a student

Mathematics teacher pleads not guilty in court

7-member jury gives a unanimous verdict in Sawla SHS rape case

Tamale High Court has sentenced a 34-year-old teacher of Sawla Senior High Schools in the Savannah Region to 15 years in prison with hard labour.

Ernest Ocloo, a mathematics teacher, was sentenced for raping a student of the school.

According to the police fact sheet, “on November 12, 2019, the complainant was in their dormitory when the suspect sent one of the female students to call her to see him in their staff common room.

“The complainant obliged and when she got to the staff common roof, the suspect seated in a sofa and asked her to join him for some discussion. Just then, the suspect offered her yoghurt and shito which she denied. The suspect then started making love advances towards her but the complainant refused. As she started walking away, the suspect went and locked the door, gripped her and put her on the ground, and forcibly had sexual intercourse with her. After the act, the complainant started feeling abdominal pains.”

It also added that “The suspect then called the complainant’s school mother to come for her. The school mother and another witness went for the complainant to their dormitory but she fell unconscious and she was rushed to Sawla polyclinic where she was treated and discharged.”

The complainant reported the matter to the police and the suspect was subsequently arrested.

Ernest Ocloo was arraigned before the Sawla district court and charged with rape.

According to a citinewroom.com report, Ernest Ocloo pleaded not guilty of the charges but the Principal State Attorney, Salia Abdul-Quddus, said the convict earlier admitted to the offense in his own written investigation caution statement.

However, the case which travelled for over three years, found him guilty after the 7-member jury gave a unanimous verdict on the case.

He was therefore sentenced to 15 years imprisonment on May 17, 2022.