The Tarkwa Circuit Court in Ghana has convicted a 32-year-old Nigerian woman, Patience Gold, to 20 years in jail for trafficking four young women, including one living with HIV from Nigeria to Ghana for forced prostitution.
According to Graphic Online, a Ghanaian news site, on Thursday, the presiding judge, Hathia Manu, ruled Gold guilty on four offences, including human trafficking, unlawful abortion, assault, and prostitution.
“For human trafficking, she was handed a 20-year sentence. She received a five-year sentence for illegal abortion and two months each for assault and prostitution.
“The sentences are to run concurrently, meaning Gold will serve a maximum term of 20 years in prison,” the report stated.
Presenting the facts before the court, Assistant Superintendent of Police Samuel Ahiabor said Gold trafficked the victims from Benue State, Nigeria, to Ghana on March 22 and 27, 2025, under the guise of providing them bar attendant jobs at her drinking spot in Asanka-Moscato.
“Upon arrival, however, she forced them into prostitution,” ASP Ahiabor told the court.
When the young women resisted, Gold allegedly took extreme measures to intimidate and control them.
“The accused forcibly and under duress shaved their pubic hair, removed their fingernails, and made them swear an oath that if they failed to work as commercial sex workers to repay the money she claimed to have spent on them, they would go mad,” Ahiabor recounted.
The ladies obeyed out of fear for their lives, and it is said that the prisoner kept all the money they earned from sex work.
Before being trafficked, one of the victims disclosed that she was already pregnant. According to the court, Gold gave her a herbal mixture on March 28, 2025, which led to an unlawful abortion.
On March 12, 2025, another victim became unwell and was admitted to the hospital, where she received an HIV/AIDS diagnosis.
“The convict, knowing her medical status and fearing she would not be patronised in Asanka-Moscato when the news became public, moved her to a different location to continue the prostitution and continued to collect the proceeds,” ASP Ahiabor said.
The abuse didn’t end there. On March 25, 2025, when Gold visited the new location to collect proceeds from the HIV-positive victim, she was given GH¢300.
Dissatisfied with the amount, she reportedly assaulted the victim, leaving her with facial injuries.
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“She also seized the victim’s HIV/AIDS medication supplied by the hospital and left,” the prosecutor added.
The abused victim’s decision to withhold medicine and tell the others about the attack marked the last turning point.
After then, the four women travelled to the Asankrangwa Police Station, where they disclosed the whole scope of their experience.
Gold was then taken into custody and accused.
A Nigerian sex worker has already been found guilty of trafficking-related charges by a Ghanaian court.
Rose Ikem, 40, was given a five-year jail term with hard labour by the Asokwa Circuit Court in Kumasi in 2024 for smuggling teenage females from Nigeria to Konongo in the Ashanti Region for prostitution.
In addition to being found guilty of human trafficking and assault, Ikem was mandated to provide her four victims a total of GHC24,000 in compensation, with each victim getting GHC6,000.
