After failing to comply with their bail conditions of GH 50,000 with two sureties, two foreigners who are accused of luring two young ladies from Nigeria to Ho under the pretense of getting them jobs at a boutique in Ghana but eventually coerced them into prostitution have been returned to police cells.
This came after yesterday’s second appearance by the defendants at the Ho Circuit Court.
Zeinab Musah, also known as Berry, and Halima Abdulai, also known as Treasure, both 23 years old, are the two accused of human trafficking.
The court, presided over by Mr. Felix Datsomor, was informed that the accused individuals banned the unwitting victims from wearing underwear and brassieres after their arrival in Ho and promptly arranged for men to have sex with them in a hotel.
The republic’s senior state attorney, Andrews Dodzi Adugu, claimed that the accused occasionally escorted their victims to a well-known nightclub in Ho where they were offered to men for sex in exchange for money.
According to the prosecution, the accused people kept the victims in a room and forbade them from leaving after they insisted on going back to Nigeria.
In one incident, the alleged perpetrators requested that one of their victims inform her mother to wire them 1.2 million Naira if she wanted to ensure her daughter’s freedom.
Later, they took their victims’ phones and underwear and threatened to use those possessions to manipulate them spiritually if they escaped.
The prosecution claims that on May 12 of this year, both victims succeeded in leaving the house in Ho-Dave and begged a tricycle taxi driver to let them stay the night in his home.
The victims reported the incident to the Ho Central Police Station the following day, which informed the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, according to further information provided to the court.
The two women were subsequently detained on the same day.
According to the prosecution, the two ladies claimed in their caution statements that the victims were never promised any job at a boutique and that they were informed they would be engaging in prostitution in Ho before arriving in Ghana.
Each accused person was given a bail amount of GH50,000 with two sureties; however, when the bail requirements were not met, they had to be led back to police custody.
On June 14, the hearing will go on.
