A 32-year-old Nigerian woman, Patience Gold, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Tarkwa Circuit Court for trafficking four young women from Nigeria to Ghana and coercing them into prostitution.
Patience Gold was convicted on multiple charges, including human trafficking, illegal abortion, assault, and prostitution.
She received 20 years for trafficking, five years for performing an illegal abortion, and two months each for assault and prostitution.
The court ruled that the sentences would run concurrently, meaning she will serve a maximum of 20 years.
According to the facts presented in court by Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Samuel Ahiabor, Gold lured the victims from Benue State, Nigeria, to Ghana under the pretense of offering them jobs as bar attendants at her drinking spot in Asankra-Moscaso in the Western Region.
However, upon arrival, she forced them into sex work.
When the victims resisted, she reportedly shaved their pubic hair and removed their fingernails before compelling them to swear an oath threatening madness if they failed to comply and repay the money she claimed to have spent on them.
Gold also forced one of the victims, who disclosed she was already pregnant upon arrival, to consume a herbal concoction that led to an illegal abortion on March 28, 2025.
In another instance, she allegedly assaulted a victim living with HIV after receiving GH¢300 from her sex work earnings, dissatisfied with the amount.
ASP Ahiabor told the court that the woman also seized the victim’s antiretroviral medication after the attack and relocated her to a different town to continue working.
Following the abuse, the victims reported their ordeal to the Asankrangwa Police, leading to Gold’s arrest and eventual prosecution.
The case has highlighted the growing threat of human trafficking and sexual exploitation in Ghana, particularly involving vulnerable migrants under false pretenses of legitimate work.
