A Bolgatanga Circuit Court has asked John Amoah, 53, and pastor standing trial for defilement to reappear in Court on July 13, 2022.
This followed the failure of the counsel of the accused to represent him in court.
The court, presided over by Mr Alexander Graham, remanded him into prison custody for him to reappear on July 13, 2022.
Amoah who is a pastor at Redeemer Church has been accused of defiling and impregnating a 13-year-old girl in December 2021 while the victim was being accommodated in his house.
Prosecution Officer, Inspector Regina Ali Agong, said about five years ago, the accused who was the administrator of the victim’s former primary school, was assisting the victim to pay her school fees and offering her other social support.
Prosecution said when the victim was being promoted to Junior High School, the accused assisted her to gain admission into a different school because her previous school did not have JHS.
The accused then convinced the family of the victim to allow her live with him so that he could help improve her academic performance which the family agreed.
The victim was then living with the accused and his wife at their house at Zuarungu which made the two families to have a close relationship.
In December 2021, when the wife of the accused left the house for Bible School, the accused took advantage and started having sexual intercourse with the victim which resulted in pregnancy.
Prosecution said the incident was reported to the Upper East Regional Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit of the Ghana Police Service.
An obstetric scan report after the medical examination conducted revealed that the victim was 26 weeks and two days pregnant, the prosecution added.
The accused who admitted to having had sexual intercourse with the victim was subsequently arrested and charged under the criminal Offences Act of 1960, Act 29.