A 25-year-old woman has managed to outwit the Amasaman District Court B by feigning pregnancy.
This earned Aisha Issah a sentence of police custody instead of three months imprisonment for stealing.
She was found guilty on November 25, 2014, after a full trial and sentenced to a fine of 100 penalty units or in default serve three months imprisonment.
Since she could not pay the fine and did not want to end up in jail, she told the court she was pregnant.
As a result, the court directed that she be held in police custody to serve her jail term after delivery.
However, the truth came to light after two months in police custody when a medical check confirmed that she was not pregnant.
She was brought to court again on January 26, 2015 and was lucky once more as she got a month imprisonment with hard labour for the fact that she had been in police custody for two months.
The court’s decision was also influenced by the fact that Issah presented signs of battering which she attributed to severe beatings from some of her cell mates.
Presenting the facts on November 25, 2014, the prosecutor, Inspector F. A. Ansah, told the court that the complainant in the case is Francis Tsiagbe, a civil servant who resides at Sowutoum in Accra, while Issah lived in a wooden kiosk at Achimota old station.
Inspector Ansah said on June 6, 2014, Tsiagbe went to visit one queenmother at Achimota Mile 7 and left his bag on a chair to visit the washroom.
On returning, he met Issah coming out from the house and asked her what she went to look for in the house.
He said Issah claimed she went to urinate but Tsiagbe suspected foul play. He, therefore, left her to go through his bag and realised that an amount of GH¢300 had been stolen from it.
Inspector Ansah said Tsiagbe rushed to the outside to question Issah but she was nowhere to be found.
The prosecutor said a report was made to the police and Issah was arrested.
In her caution statement, she admitted the offence.
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