The Wa High Court has sentenced a 42-year-old self-styled Imam, Ilyasu Konate, to 10 years’ imprisonment with hard labour for defiling a seven-year-old boy in Kabenya, a suburb of Wa.
The conviction follows a swift prosecution led by Principal State Attorney, Abdul Saeed Shakur, who revealed that the convict exploited his position as a trusted neighbour to commit the crime.
On 17 January 2026, Konate lured the victim, the child’s sister, and his own stepdaughter onto his motorbike under the pretext of taking them for a ride.
He then drove the children to a secluded spot behind a parked articulated truck near the Upper West Regional Coordinating Council’s tennis court, where he sexually assaulted the young boy.
Although Konate denied the charge of defiling a child under 16, claiming no assault occurred, the court rejected his defense. In-camera testimony from the victim, corroborating evidence from the child’s mother, and conclusive medical evidence confirming anal trauma led to his conviction.
Delivering the judgment, Justice Osei Antwi-Wusu was lauded by the prosecution for a thorough and analytical ruling that incorporated medical science, factual evidence, and child psychology.
State Attorney Abdul Saeed Shakur issued a stern warning to child abusers across the Upper West Region, noting a worrying surge in molestation cases often perpetrated by close acquaintances.
He affirmed that the prosecution will relentlessly pursue offenders to ensure the full rigour of the law is applied, offering the victim’s family long-awaited relief as Konate begins his sentence immediately.
