The Kweikuma Gender Circuit Court in Takoradi has sentenced a 31-year-old Nigerian to 10 years in prison for trafficking four females from Onitsha, Anambra State into the country.
The convict, Okolo Chukwukadibia Jackson, who entered the country illegally, is said to have recruited a 16-year-old among the victims under the guise of sending her to Dubai to serve as a salesgirl.
Jackson was sentenced on his own plea when he appeared before the court presided over by Naa Amerley Akowuah. He was then slapped with a 10-year jail term for the offence of trafficking.
For the offence of illegally entering the country, the convict was handed a fine of GH¢1,200. In default of the fine, he will serve an additional six-month jail term.
The facts presented by the Regional Prosecutor of the Western Regional Command of the Ghana Immigration Service, Senior Inspector Terah Allou, told the court that Jackson entered the country illegally in 2021 and has since remained so until his arrest at Aboi Nkwanta, Asankrangwa, in the Western Region.
“According to the 16-year-old victim rescued, one Madam Ella, one of the accomplices of the primary suspect, recruited them in Nigeria under the guise of sending them to her brother, the primary suspect, in Dubai to serve as salesgirls.
“Investigations revealed that an amount of (N 668, 200) was sent by the accused from Ghana to the said Madam Ella, to cover the cost of their recruitment, lodging, feeding, and transportation from Onitsha, Anambra State, to Asankrangwa in the Western Region,” the prosecutor said.
He added that the victims arrived in Lagos on Sunday, February 11, 2024, through an agent and handed them over to a driver referred to as I.K. who accommodated them for the night.
On the next day, the prosecutor said I.K. put the rescued victim and the other three Nigerian girls into his car and brought them to Accra on Tuesday, February 13, 2024.
On Thursday, February 15, 2024, the prosecutor said I.K. arranged for an Asankrangwa-bound bus for the victims and gave Jackson’s contact number to the driver to arrange for the victims to call on arrival.
“Immediately after Jackson had received them on the morning of Friday, February 16, 2024, he singled the innocent 16-year-old girl out by taking her to a shrine to swear with an egg to the effect that she would neither run away nor disclose whatsoever ordeal she would suffer to anyone, else she would die,” Insp. Allou said.
Hand over
The victim, he said, was finally taken to a warehouse where she was handed over to another Nigerian woman, allegedly called Madam Special, in charge of that brothel.
“Right in front of the victim, Jackson paid Madam Special an undisclosed amount of money in addition to giving her packages of condoms, after which the victim was directed to a room and ordered to begin working as a prostitute.
“The victim was further informed that the entire proceeds from her illicit trade go to Jackson,” the prosecutor said.
He said the victim, on managing to escape from the clutches of the traffickers, chanced upon a good samaritan, (name withheld) who led her to the Asankrangwa Sector Command of the Ghana Immigration Service.
The Commander, C/Supt. Kwabena Agyei, upon receiving the report, arranged to rescue the victims and arrest the perpetrators but unfortunately missed Madam Special.
During the interrogation, the prosecutor said Jackson admitted to having sent the other three victims to one Gifty, who is also at large, in exchange for GH¢8500.
A statement issued by the regional command and signed by its Public Affairs Officer, Insp. Moses Manford Akakpo, said the Western Regional Command of the Service, in its quest to arrest the rest of the syndicate and be able to save the other three Nigerian girls, had put its investigative machinery across the region on high alert.
