8/5/2025
A 32-year-old Nigerian woman identified as Patience Gold has been sentenced to a 20-year jail term by a Ghanaian court for trafficking four Nigerian girls to Ghana and forcing them into prostitution.
Presiding judge Hathia Ama Manu of the Tarkwa Circuit Court Western Region handed down the sentence on Patience Gold after she found guilty of multiple charges of human trafficking, forced prostitution, assault, unlawful abortion and spreading of HIV.
The Police prosecuting officer ASP Samuel Ahiabor told the court that Patience Gold lured the four girls from Benue State, Nigeria between March 22-27, 2025, with the promise of giving them jobs. But she forced the girls into prostitution.
“The victims refused to work, and 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,” the prosecutor said.
The girls complied and Patience Gold collected money they made from the sex trade. She allegedly brewed some concoctions and gave to one of the girls who got pregnant before she came to Ghana and then pushed her back to work.
It was also reported that one of the girls got ill and was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.
“She was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. The convict, knowing her medical status and fearing she would not be patronised in Asankra-Moscaso when the news became public, moved her to a different location to continue the prostitution, and continued to collect the proceeds,” ASP Ahiabor said.
On March 25, 2025, Gold reportedly visited the girl with the HIV/AIDS to collect proceeds and was given GH¢300. Dissatisfied with the amount, she assaulted the victim, causing a facial injury.
“She also seized the victim’s HIV/AIDS medication supplied by the hospital and left,” the prosecutor added.
Following the incident, according to Daily Graphic reports the girl informed the other, and together they went to the Asankrangwa Police Station to report their ordeal.
This led to the arrest of Patience Gold and her subsequent prosecution at the Circuit Court.
