Grandparents Jailed 10yrs For Human Trafficking

Two Togolese nationals, who conspired to sell their 22 months old grandson for GH¢12,000, have been handed a 10-year jail term by an Accra Circuit Court for human trafficking.

They are Yaw Amediame Kondo and Kosuavi Kondo aka Nkua Kondo, both farmers based at Eduano, near Assin Fosu in the Central Region.

The police have also intensified the search for the third accomplice Dodzi Kondo, the father of the child who is alleged to have hatched the plan to sell the child.

According to the prosecution, led by ASP Stephen Adjei, the convicts on July 1, 2015 at Eduano and Kasoa respectively conspired to sell the child to one C/Insp. Gregory Abajivor for GH¢12,000.

The accused persons, who appeared before Gender based court, presided over by Mrs. Rita Agyeman-Budu, admitted the offence and they were convicted on their own plea.

The trial judge accordingly slapped the jail term on Yaw and Kosuavi for human trafficking.

The facts of the case are that the complainants Joseph Ackah and his wife Mary Akakpo are timber merchants at Kasoa while the accused persons are immigrant farmers from Togo but resident at Eduano.

ASP Adjei said about seven months ago, the accused persons arrived in Ghana to farm but they incurred losses due to the lack of patronage.

He said Yaw subsequently could not raise money to take care of the family and discussed the matter with Kosuavi and Dodzi, whose son had been abandoned by his mother.

According to the prosecutor, Dodzi suggested that they look for someone to buy his child in Togo to raise money to settle their indebtedness.

ASP Adjei indicated that in June, this year, the accused persons told Mary about the sale of the victim who assured them of a ready market.

He stated that Mary also informed her husband at Kasoa who subsequently alerted the Kasoa Police command.

The police officer said Mary met the three accused persons at MGG, a suburb of Kasoa with the boy and insisted that she would get a Roman Father to buy the victim.

C/Insp. Abajivor, who posed as a Roman Catholic Priest, joined them and introduced himself.

The prosecutor said the Catholic Priest bargained with Yaw and settled on the said amount, adding that after the police had paid the money to Yaw he was arrested but Dodzi managed to escape.

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By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson


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