AFUA ADOKO & ANOR vs. THE REPUBLIC

JUDGMENT ON CRIMINAL APPEAL 1.0 Introduction and background facts 1.1 This is a criminal appeal by the appellants herein against the judgment of the Circuit Court ‘5’, Accra dated 20 July 2018, and 12 January 2017 respectively that convicted appellants on a single charge of conspiracy to commit crime namely human trafficking contrary to section 23(1) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), and section 2(1) of the Human Trafficking Act, 2005 (Act 694). 1.2 The facts as contained in the factsheet accompanying the charge sheet that I can briefly narrate here are that appellants are a married couple. They are natives of Winneba but reside at Yeji, a fishing community in the Bono East Region as fishmonger and fisherman respectively. Christian Kofi Panyin, aged 14, the child victim in the suit is the son of the convict Ama Adomah (A2) a trader who lives at Winneba. On 20 November 2016, the couple appellants (A1 and A3) travelled from Yeji to Winneba and approached A2 for h...