Unemployed woman fined for fleeing after lodging at hotel

A forty-eight year old unemployed woman who lodged in a hotel with her family for four months and bolted without settling the bills has been fined GH� 1,560 by the Tema Circuit Court �A�. Benedicta Sowah who was convicted on her own plea of guilty to the charge of defrauding by false pretence would serve 12 months imprisonment if she defaults. Chief Inspector Adolphus Otchere, prosecuting told the court presided over by Mrs Lorinda Owusu that Sowah, her husband and their three children checked into the Janus Hotel at Tema Community 18 in August 2008. He stated that after staying in the hotel room for some weeks, her husband left her and the children at the premises and never returned. In the third week of November 2008, the woman also managed to sneak out leaving the three children in the hotel. The court heard that sensing danger of being left by both parents, the children also vanished some few days later. Their stay in the hotel accrued to a total bill of GH�2,600.00. Chief Inspector Otchere stated that the accountant of the hotel, who is the complainant in the case, spotted the woman at the 37 Military Hospital on August 09 this year at about 1800 hours and raised an alarm leading to her arrest. The prosecutor added that she was handed over to the community 18 police and accused was charged with the offence after investigations.