Two persons, including a nursing mother, have been sentenced to a total of 10 years’ imprisonment for human trafficking by an Accra Circuit Court.
They are Ama Adomah, unemployed and Kwaku Acquah, fisherman.
The first accused, Efua Adoko, who is also facing trial, denied the charges of conspiracy to human trafficking.
According to the prosecutor, DSP Cletus Abadanlowora, the three on November 23, 2016 transported one Christian Kofi Payin, 14, to the Adabraka Market to be trafficked to Yeji, a fishing community in the Brong Ahafo Region for fishing.
Adomah and Kwaku, who appeared before the trial judge, Mrs. Abena Oppong Adjin-Doku, admitted the offence and were accordingly jailed five years each with hard labour to serve as deterrent to others.
The court held that that was the minimum sentence under the law in respect of the charges preferred against them.
Mrs. Adjin-Doku ordered that the children of Adomah should be taken to the Osu Children’s Home.
The judge also ordered the investigator to bring a relation of Adomah to court on February 9, 2017.
In the case of Efua, the court granted her bail in the sum of GH¢30,000 with three sureties to reappear on February 9, 2017.
The facts of the case are that the complainant Rebecca Tagoe is a trader at Adabraka while all the accused persons hail from Winneba in the Central Region.
Kwaku is the father of the victim and that on the aforementioned date, Ama and Efua travelled from Yeji to Winneba and approached Kwaku for the victim to be transported to Yeji for fishing.
Kwaku agreed to offer his son to them for GH¢100.
All the accused persons agreed to travel to a transit point in Accra with Christian in order to evade the detection of the deal in Winneba.
On November 23, 2016 at the Adabraka Market, Kwaku handed over the victim to be taken to Yeji and returned to Winneba after collecting the said amount.
Christian cried and resisted the accused persons, which attracted the attention of the complainant who eventually confronted Efua.
She reported the matter to the Adabraka Police Station and the case was transferred to the CID Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, which led to the arrest of the other accomplices.