The infamous Josephine Panyin Mensah, who was later accused of staging her kidnapping and fabricating a pregnancy, was fined GH7,200 by Takoradi District Court A, presided over by His Worship Michael Ampadu, for publishing false information with the goal to spread fear and panic.
Although Josephine Panyin Mensah did not make the publication, her report to the police did result in the publishing, which “in no doubt generated terror and panic throughout the country,” according to presiding judge Michael Ampadu, who took more than two hours to read out his decision.
He continued by saying that initially, the police had just been called to a reported case of a missing wife, but that after they had located Josephine Panyin Mensah, who had acknowledged to the fake pregnancy in a cautionary statement to them, the case had evolved into an abduction.
“She told the police that she had been taken hostage and that, upon regaining consciousness, she had discovered the bodies of 12 other pregnant women who had all been slaughtered. Therefore, if you have a family member who is expecting and may have traveled, this knowledge will undoubtedly cause you to panic when you hear it, he emphasized.
Because Josephine Panyin Mensah is expecting, Michael Ampadu chose to settle for a fine of 600 penalty units rather than the three years that the maximum term for broadcasting false news with the aim to provoke fear and terror allows.
The court ruled Josephine Panyin Mensah not guilty on the first count of defrauding a public official because, in the opinion of the presiding judge, the elements required to support the accusation were missing.
“In order to establish the accusation of misleading a public official, we must show that both the complainant and the target of the offense were public officers performing or on active duty. Michael Simmons, a businessman and Josephine Panyin Mensah’s husband, sadly filed the complaint. Since even the police acknowledged that the complainant is a businessman, it has been conclusively proven that he is not a public official. Parts of his decision said that “hence, the problem of a public official and being on active duty cannot be proven.”
Josephine Panyin Mensah was charged with staging her kidnapping and fabricating a pregnancy.
She was accused of publishing false information with the goal to spread fear and panic in violation of Section 208 (1) of the Criminal Offences Act and two counts of misleading a public official in violation of Section 251 (B) of the Criminal Offences Act.
Source: newsthemegh.com