Ghana Jails Nigerian Man 10 Years For Trafficking Sister, Nine Other Girls Into Prostitution

A Ghanaian court has sentenced a 29-year-old Nigerian, Chukwudi Nwachukwu, to 10 years in prison for trafficking his younger sister and nine other girls from Nigeria to Ghana for prostitution.

The Achimota Circuit Court in Accra, presided over by Judge Akosua Anokyewaa Adjepong, convicted Nwachukwu on two counts of human trafficking. The sentences will run concurrently.

According to the prosecution led by Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Isaac Babayi, the victims—aged between 15 and 18 years—were deceived with promises of decent jobs in a restaurant in Ghana but were instead forced into sex work upon arrival. One of the victims was the convict’s own sister.

ASP Babayi told the court that the case began after Chief Calistus Eloziepuwa, a member of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO) in Ghana, reported the matter to authorities and helped rescue the victims. On June 7, 2024, the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) of the Ghana Police Service received a report that Chief Eloziepuwa and his team had apprehended Nwachukwu and freed the girls.

Investigations revealed that Nwachukwu financed their transportation from Nigeria and collaborated with yet-to-be-identified accomplices who recruited the victims from several villages. On arrival in Ghana, he reportedly housed them at Liberia Camp near Kasoa, where he forced them to take oaths before a shrine after cutting their pubic hair. The victims were warned that they would suffer incurable skin diseases if they disobeyed him or tried to escape.

The prosecution said Nwachukwu later moved the girls to Odorkor, a suburb of Accra, and compelled them into prostitution, demanding. GH C300 daily from each as payment. Police investigators also discovered that he kept detailed records of their daily earnings in an exercise book.

In delivering judgment, Judge Adjepong acknowledged Nwachukwu’s plea for leniency as a first-time offender but stressed that the “seriousness and rising prevalence of human trafficking” called for a deterrent sentence.

The court consequently sentenced him to 10 years’ imprisonment and ordered him to pay.  GH C15,000 in compensation to each of the 10 victims.