Photographer Pays Prostitute Fake Money

Baffuor Osei Akoto, a 29-year-old photographer who purportedly paid an alleged prostitute with fake currency after satisfying his libido with her in a hotel, has been hauled before a Takoradi Circuit Court.

The accused person was charged with possessing fake currency. His plea was not taken and the court remanded him into prison custody to reappear on August 29, 2012.

Prosecuting, Inspector Fuseini Yakubu told the court that the complainants in the case were a bar attendant and a hairdresser, while the accused was a native of Ejisu in the Ashanti Region.

The prosecutor noted that on July 8, 2012, at about 10pm, the accused arrived in Takoradi from Accra and went to the Zenith area in the metropolis to have some drinks.

On his way, the accused chanced on the second complainant and proposed love to her, which the hairdresser agreed.

The accused then took the lady to a hotel in Takoradi, apparently to have sex with her.

According to the prosecutor, at the hotel, Akoto bought a mini bottle of Star beer and a bottle of Club beer, amounting to GH¢4.50 and gave a GH¢5 note to the bar attendant at the hotel. The bar attendant, the first complainant, also gave the accused change of Gp50.

The accused person then booked one of the rooms at the hotel and took the second complainant inside to apparently satisfy his libido.

After the alleged act, Akoto gave the hairdresser one GH¢20 note and five GH¢5 notes, totaling GH¢45.00.

The second complainant then left the hotel room to buy fried egg with part of the money given to her by the accused person.

It was after the alleged prostitute had paid for the fried egg that the seller detected that the money was fake; so she alerted the second complainant.

The alleged prostitute quickly went back to the hotel and informed the first complainant to check the money given to him by the accused person for the drinks.

They discovered that the money given to the bar attendant was also detected to be fake and the second complainant quickly rushed to town and informed personnel of a police patrol team who swiftly moved to the hotel and arrested the accused in his hotel room.

When the police searched the wallet of the accused, genuine notes worth GH¢65.00, and one GH¢5 and one GH¢2 notes suspected to be fake, were found.

In his caution statement, the accused claimed ownership of the money and all the contents of the wallet. He, however, told the police that he did not know how the fake currencies got into his wallet and blamed it on the work of the devil and drunkenness.

After investigations, the accused was charged with the offence and put before the court.

The prosecutor revealed that the alleged fake currencies had been sent to the Bank of Ghana (BoG) for authentication and prayed the court to remand the accused pending an advice from the BoG.