The Tarkwa Circuit Court in Ghana has sentenced a 32-year-old Nigerian woman, Patience Gold, to 20 years in prison for trafficking four young women, including one living with HIV from Nigeria to Ghana for forced prostitution.
According to Graphic Online, a Ghanaian news outlet, on Thursday, the presiding judge, Hathia Manu, found Gold guilty on four charges, including human trafficking, illegal 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.
Fearing for their lives, the women complied, and the convict reportedly collected all the money they made from sex work.
One of the victims revealed she was already pregnant before being trafficked. The court heard that on March 28, 2025, Gold administered a herbal concoction to her, resulting in an illegal abortion.
In a separate incident on March 12, 2025, another victim fell ill and was taken to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.
“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.
“She also seized the victim’s HIV/AIDS medication supplied by the hospital and left,” the prosecutor added.
The final turning point came after the abused victim informed the others of the assault and withheld medication.
The four women then made their way to the Asankrangwa Police Station, where they reported the full extent of their ordeal.
Gold was subsequently arrested and charged.
This is not the first time a Ghanaian court has sentenced a Nigerian sex worker for trafficking-related offences.
In 2024, the Asokwa Circuit Court in Kumasi sentenced 40-year-old Rose Ikem to five years’ imprisonment with hard labour for trafficking young girls from Nigeria to Konongo in the Ashanti Region for prostitution.
Ikem, who was convicted of human trafficking and assault, was also ordered to pay a total compensation of GHC24,000 to her four victims, with each receiving GHC6,000.
