Dutch national remanded over pornography

Accra, Oct. 18, GNA - A 62-year-old Dutch national on Monday appeared at a Circuit Court in Accra for filming and taking pictures of over fifteen Ghanaian girls he engaged in sexual acts.

Frederik De Graaf has been charged for engaging in activities contrary to the Immigration Act, disregarding and disobeying the obligations of a tourist, and deceit of public officer.

De Graaf pleaded not guilty.

The court presided over by Mrs. Elizabeth Ankomah remanded him to reappear on November 1, pending further investigations.

Mr. Kwame Takyi who prosecuted told the court that the accused first visited the country in 1988 as a tourist.

Mr. Takyi said over the past three years the accused had visited the country 11 times as a tourist, which did not permit him to take-up employment.

On October 4, this year, de Graaf at the Port of entry indicated to immigration official that he was entering the country as a tourist.

Prosecution said De Graaf who appeared to be a benevolent person, approach needy but beautiful girls around and offered to assist them by sponsoring their education.

He said some parents of these victims willingly accept de Graaf's offer. However, after sponsoring the girls for some years, he starts inviting them to his hotel room, which easily passed for a world-class film studio for sex.

Mr. Takyi said unknown to the girls, De Graaf had been taking photographs and films of their sex sessions and took the pictures and pornographic films back to Holland.

On October 13, officers from the Operation Unit of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) mounted a swoop based on a tip off at his hotel room at Club 10, Nima, a suburb of Accra.

Prosecution said items including, a list of girls with their telephone numbers with various descriptions such as 'too wild in bed," licked toes, breast and anus, too sexy, very ugly' among other inscriptions were found in his hotel room.

Others items found were nude photographs of young girls most of whom were between the ages of 16 and 18 years, a Minolta camera, one Sony digital video camera recorder, one Sony mega Pixel digital handy cam, one ultra compact 35mm camera, two movable stage flash lights, one Fuji film quick camera, one flash light, ten used Sony 80 digital video cassettes, and a TV set among other things.

Prosecution said 15 of the DVD/VCH discs retrieved from the hotel room of the accused contained serious graphic sex session with over 50 different Ghanaian girls, some of whom are JSS/SSS students and other West African nationals.

After an in depth investigation, interrogation and watching the films, it came to light that de Graaf had been engaging in activities contrary to the conditions upon which he was granted entry into the country.

Prosecution said further investigation also revealed that De Graaf had been connecting some of the girls in his films to interested persons abroad who then write to these girls from abroad.

In some instances, some of these girls were sent abroad to meet their boy friends.

The accused admitted the offence and also stated that he had been enstooled as the Nkosuohene of Agona Kroforso in the Ashanti Region.