Accra, July 27, GNA- Iforma Okeke, aka Mama Blessing, a 33-year-old hairdresser and head of Nigerian prostitutes in Ayamfuri in the Central Region, has been sentenced to five years imprisonment by an Accra Circuit Court.
This was after Iforma was found guilty on charges of human trafficking, failure to register with nearest Immigration and abetment of crime to wit abortion.
She is said to have trafficked two persons from Nigeria to Ghana (Ayamfuri in the Central Region) and compelled them to engage in prostitution to defray the cost of GHC22,000 they owed her.
Iforma’s accomplice Regina Okafor, a 23-year-old dressmaker, was also given five years for charges of criminal abortion and failure to inform the authority about trafficking.
The court presided over by Mrs Christina Cann sentenced James Jesugbami, a 34-year-old Storekeeper, another accomplice to three-month imprisonment and a fine of GHC500.
He will serve three months jail term if he fails to pay the fine for failure to register with the nearest Immigration office and failure to inform the authority about trafficking.
Princess Emmanuel, also an accomplice, was ordered by the court to pay a fine of GHC500 on the charge of failure to register with the nearest Immigration office in Ghana.
On the charge of failure to inform the authority about trafficking, Princess would serve three months imprisonment.
Prosecuting, Chief Inspector Agartha Asantewaa, said the complainant was Ex WO1 Baffour Karikari, an Inspection Officer of the Metro Mass Transit Ghana.
Chief Inspector Asantewaa said the victims and all the accused persons were Nigerians residing in Ghana.
The prosecution said Iforma was a hairdresser and head of Nigerian prostitutes in Ayamfuri.
The prosecution said Dobiem, one of the accomplices at large, was a driver, James Jesugbami, a storekeeper residing at Spintex in Accra, and the fourth accused person whose name was only given as Sharon, was an assistant to Iforma and they both resided at Ayamfuri in the Central Region.
Regina Okafor, the fifth accused person, was a dressmaker and Princess Emmanuel, the sixth accused person, was a hairdresser.
On September 6, 2021, the Anti Human trafficking Unit of Ghana Police Service (headquarters) received an extract of occurrence from Kaneshie Divisional Domestic Violence and Victim’s Support Unit (DOVVSU), which indicated that the complainant had rescued two victims (names withheld) who had been trafficked from Nigeria to Ghana.
The report indicated that the complainant also arrested Regina Okafor and Princess Emmanuel.
The prosecution said the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit took over the cases and investigations revealed that the first victim was recruited by Iforma and Dobiem under the pretext that there was a computer (ICT) job in Ghana for her to do and she arrived by sea in Ghana in the company of five other victims.
It said in Ghana, James received the first victim and others at Spintex.
Later James received money from Iforma as transport fare.
The prosecution said James then transported the first victim and two others to Ayamfuri and Iforma took custody of them.
It said the second victim was also recruited by Iforma and Dobiem under the pretext that they operated a boutique in Ghana and needed salesgirls.
The prosecution said the second victim was also sent to Ayamfuri under the custody of Iforma.
It said Iforma forced the two victims into prostitution and insisted they paid her an amount of 1.5 million Naira equivalent to GHC GHC22,000 before having their freedom.
It said Iforma assigned one Sharon now at large to monitor the first victim while Regina Okafor was to monitor the second victim.
The prosecution said Sharon and Regina provided clothes and condoms to the victims to start having sex with men for a fee and they (victims) gave their proceeds to Sharon and Regina who made accounts to Iforma to defray the victims’ cost of GHC22,000.
It said Iforma later detected that the victims were pregnant and instructed Regina to purchase drugs for the first victim to abort the pregnancy.
Regina bought the drugs for the first victim and forced her to insert four of the tablets into her private part and swallow another tablet.
The prosecution said the first victim bled for one week and on September 5, 2021, she and the second victim managed to escape.
It said they went to James who was then at Spintex to assist them to go back to Nigeria.
The prosecution said unknown to the victims, James and Dobiem informed Iforma and she asked Regina and Princess to bring the victims back to Ayamfuri.
The prosecution said whiles on board a bus at Kaneshie to Ayamfuri, the second victim raised an alarm, which drew the attention of the complainant and the four (victims and accused persons) were transported to Kaneshie DOVVSU.
It said the victims were taken to a shelter where it was detected that the first victim was still bleeding and taken to the hospital for treatment.
According to the prosecution, at the hospital, it was detected that the first victim’s pregnancy had been tampered with and aborted.
On October 22, 2021, further investigation led to the arrest of Iforma at prostitution joint at Ayamfuri.
It said the police also detected that Iforma, James, Regina and Princess were living and working in Ghana, but had failed to register with the Ghana Immigration Service to officially formalise their stay in the country.
Source: Ghana News Agency
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