The Takoradi Circuit Court A has handed a six-year jail term to Joana Krah for faking kidnap. The court presided over by Mr. Micheal Kojo Ampadu found her guilty on two counts of deceiving Public Officer and Publication of false news.
She had pleaded guilty to all charges.
The court, therefore, convicted her on her plea of guilty to serve six years for deceiving a Public Officer and two years for the publication of false news to run concurrently.
The Takoradi Police District Command arrested three persons for scheming and faking kidnap in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis.
The three are Joana Krah 29, Susana Awotwe 27, and Francis Eshun 27.
A statement signed by the Acting Director-General of the Public Relations for the Ghana Police Service, ACOP Kwesi Ofori, said the three schemed the act and executed it.
He said Joana, the main suspect, conspired with her two accomplices to undertake the act and put a call through to the adopted father of the first suspect to demand a ransom of 5,000 cedis.
The adopted father, upon receiving the call, informed the police which led to a search for the lady.
The statement said Joana, upon hearing of the police search, presented herself to the Takoradi District Police command on Saturday and was arraigned on Monday, leading to her prison sentence.
Meanwhile, the Executive Director of the Concerned Mother’s Movement, Mrs Josephine Amoah, had condemned the incessant hoax on kidnapping in the twin-city of the Western Region and urged public education on the consequences that characterized such disdaining acts.
She said aside from the social tension and insecurity it presented, it could also derail the investment fortunes of the Region.
Mrs Amoah said such fake kidnaps were likely to divert attention from people who needed real help and assistance.
GNA
