Daniel Opare Asiedu, a lawyer who had been sentenced by an Accra Circuit Court on October 26, 2022, in an adoption case, has been acquitted and discharged by an Accra High Court.
The High Court, presided over by Justice Mary Ekue Yanzuh, also acquitted Madam Elizabeth Arthur Adjei, also known as Maa Lizzy, the Proprietress of God Kids Orphanage, who had received a jail sentence from the same court.
A statement issued by Abraham Arthur, Counsel for the two individuals, and copied to the GNA, revealed that the High Court discharged them on June 2, 2023.
“The High Court found as a fact that the charges levelled against the appellants by the prosecution were completely different from the evidence adduced at the trial, the learned judge at page 27 of her judgement stated.”
“Indeed the evidence led by the prosecution at the trial had nothing to do with the charges preferred against the accused persons,” the statement said.
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On August 28, 2018, Asiedu and Madam Adjei were brought before an Accra Circuit Court on charges of conspiracy to commit crime, specifically defrauding by false pretenses. Asiedu faced an additional charge of abetment of the same crime.
Following a full trial, the court sentenced Madam Adjei (the first appellant) to 36 months imprisonment and imposed a fine of GHC6,000, with an alternative of serving 18 months in default.
Asiedu (the second appellant) was sentenced to 36 months imprisonment and fined GHC12,000.
Dissatisfied with the conviction and sentences, the two appellants filed an appeal on November 22, 2022.
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After a comprehensive review of the appeal records, the High Court acquitted and discharged the appellants. It found that the trial judge had erred by basing her judgment on facts that were unrelated to the charges against the appellants.
Furthermore, the High Court determined that the charges brought against the appellants lacked a basis. The court also concluded that the prosecution had failed to present sufficient evidence to support the conviction and sentence, and that the appellants should not have been convicted.
The statement stated, “The learned High Court Judge confirmed that the appellants were innocent of the charges against them at the Circuit Court and, therefore, their conviction and sentences were made in error.”
Consequently, the High Court set aside the conviction and sentences imposed by the circuit court.
In a statement released by the Gender Ministry in November 2022, it was alleged that the appellants had obtained money from a couple under the pretense of arranging their transportation to Canada for a job opportunity. The complainants were instructed to pay GHC5,000 for passport and travel documents, of which GHC4,000 was paid.
According to the statement, Madam Adjei later informed the complainants that one person (the wife) could not travel because she was pregnant and could only do so after giving birth. The complainant (the man) was told that there was a problem with his passport, which needed to be addressed, but his son could travel as there was nothing wrong with his documents. The statement further mentioned that the complainant was eventually given a document indicating that his child had been adopted.
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Subsequently, the case was reported to the Devtraco Police Station, leading to the arrest and prosecution of the two individuals by the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Ghana Police, with support from the Human Trafficking Secretariat (HTS) of the Gender Ministry.
