Footballer Jailed 6yrs For Rape

Eric Frimpong, a US-based Ghanaian footballer who was convicted of rape a few months ago, was this week handed a six-year jail-term for the offence. A judge sentenced the former University of California Santa Barbara soccer player to six years in state prison. A jury had found him guilty in December 2007 of raping a woman on an Isla Vista beach 10 months back. The woman said she met Frimpong after a party. Eric Frimpong was originally charged with two counts of rape but the judge dismissed the second count. It would be recalled that at the time the world was trying to come to grips with the alleged rape of a 26-year-old woman by a Manchester United defender, DAILY GUIDE SPORTS reported that the Ghanaian footballer had tasted the wrath of the American Justice System for the same offence. But Jurors acquitted Frimpong of sexual battery against another female student in an earlier incident. Frimpong was convicted for rape, and various attempts by his lawyers to get a retrial had failed in subsequent months, resulting in sentencing this week. After attending the St. James Seminary in Ghana, where he was a three-year letter-winner, Frimpong, who was born at Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region, had admission at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). He was the recipient of the Golden Boot Award and was named best player at the West African University Games (WAUG) playing for Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. He netted eight goals and tallied five assists at the WAUG. Frimpong Entered his senior year at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) in America as a mathematics major, and made an immediate influence in the midfield during his first year as a Gaucho and was one of only three players to appear in all 21 of UCSB’s matches. As a senior midfielder, Frimpong was considered a key player in Santa Barbara's victory over UCLA in last year's national championship. Frimpong's former coaches at UCSB had declined to make any statements on the verdict but Paul Descruisseaux, the Associate Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs did. He said, "There are no winners in this outcome, it's a very sad situation."