Moses Gator, a 42-year-old building contractor from Doboro, was recently acquitted by the Gender Based Violence Court in Accra, led by Mrs. Dora Eshun. He had been accused of defiling his stepdaughter but pleaded not guilty.
Gator was released after the prosecution presented their case, but the court upheld his submission of no case and freed his sureties. The court found several inconsistencies in the evidence provided by the victim and other prosecution witnesses.
The court criticized the case investigator for conducting a flawed, one-sided, and armchair investigation, which relied solely on the victim’s words. The court also noted that the case was triggered by the misguided motives of the prosecution witness (the complainant) rather than the truth.
Gator’s defense counsels, Mr. Jerry Avenorgbo and Lord Delvin Essandoh, argued that the room’s size and the parties’ sleeping positions made it unlikely for the alleged act to go unnoticed, especially by the complainant. They argued that she would have noticed Gator’s absence from her bed if he had moved away for a period.
The prosecution, led by Chief Inspector Opoku Aniagyei, was unable to make a prima facie case against Gator. As a result, the court did not require Gator to respond to the charge.
