According to Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, the Judge who sentenced galamsey mastermind Aisha Huang to four and a half years in jail, the Chinese citizen took advantage of Ghana’s hospitality.
Aisha Huang was also fined GHC 48,000.
“The accused person abused our kind hospitality when her first trial was truncated and she was deported to her home country. She came back this time with new personality with a different name, different date of birth,”
According to Justice Lydia Osei Marfo.
While delivering her decision in the case presented against Aisha Huang, Justice Marfo stated this.
Aisha Huang was charged with four charges of participating in mining activities without a license, enabling the operation of persons engaged in mining without a license, unlawful hiring of foreign nationals, and entering Ghana when barred from doing so in November 2022.
This was after she was believed to have infiltrated over the Aflao border to carry out her actions in October 2022, despite being deported in 2018 after the state filed a nolle prosequi on identical allegations.
During the one-year trial, the Chinese illegal miner pled not guilty to all counts but one: entering Ghana when forbidden from doing so.
The state called eleven witnesses, including farmers who testified about selling farmland to the felon and seeing her unlawful mining on the land. State prosecutors presented video proof of the harm perpetrated by Aisha Huang.
After reviewing the evidence, the Judge found that the “state has discharged its burden of proving beyond reasonable doubt.”
However, before she could administer her punishment, Aisha Huang’s lawyers pleaded with the court to issue a fine and deport her rather than imposing a prison sentence.
Miracle Attachey, her main lawyer, requested that
“Seeing the nature of our prisons especially given the economic hardship that the country is experiencing we pray for a fine and deportation of the accused back to her country.”
Yvonne Attakora Obuobisa, director of public prosecutions, disagreed, stating that “My Lord, taking into consideration the impact of her action, the families of the witnesses who testified in this court, we wish to persuade my lord to impose a term of imprisonment as well as the fine.”
Justice Lydia Marfo imposed both a prison term and a fine. She expressed worry, however, that the Minerals and Mining (Amendment) Act 2019, 995 limits her ability to inflict heavier punishments of a minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 25 years.
“I wish I had the right to impose the punishment under the current law,”
Before passing sentence, Justice Lydia Marfo made a comment.
This is because Aisha Hung was charged under ACT 900, which originally stipulated a maximum of five years in prison for engaging in mining activities without a license.
The judge then sentenced her to four and a half years in prison on charges one and two, which dealt with her illicit mining activities.
She was also sentenced to a year in prison on counts 3 and 4 of unlawful employment of foreigners and illegal entry into Ghana.
The sentences must run simultaneously. She must, however, pay a $48K fine on each of the four offenses or face additional time in jail (four and a half years for counts one and two, three years for counts three and four).
