It should have been community service for Akuapem Poloo – ASEPA

The Executive Director of civil society group Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA), Mr. Mensah Thompson, has said a non-custodial sentence rather than the 90-day jail term, would have been ideal for actress and socialite Akuapem Poloo considering the “mens rea” of the crime.

According to him, Akuapem Poloo’s crime of posting her nude picture with her son on social media was “without malice” even though it was “a clear overstepping of boundaries” but “nothing deliberate” in terms of exposing her son to child pornography.

“Clearly, she crossed the line”, Mr. Thompson said, but cautioned: “Let us not overstep” the remedy so as not to “bring more harm to the innocent child, psychologically”.

He made this known in a statement after the judgment was pronounced today, Friday, 16 April 2021 at the Accra Circuit Court.

In Mr. Thompson’s view, the judiciary should consider opting for non-custodial sentencing such as community service to decongest the prisons and ensure the proper reformation of convicts.

“Even in crimes such as petty stealing, flouting of traffic regulations, disturbance of the public peace, etc., we have constantly advocated the use of non-custodial sentencing. Our prisons are greatly over-congested and dehumanised and do not offer any proper means of reformation which is the real intent of custodial sentencing”, he argued.

He said: “One question the court must answer is that considering the fact that she is a single mother, who takes care of the boy while the mother is away serving a jail term? Surely, the court must convict her but a non-custodial one with community service would serve a much better purpose at not just reforming her” but also being “deterrent enough, considering her status and all she stand to lose from such exposure to public community service!” he added.

Meanwhile, Akuapem Poloo’s lawyer, Mr Andrew Vortia, has wondered who will care for his client’s son after the sentencing.

“Who is going to take care of the child for these 90 days that she is going to be in there?” Mr Vortia asked when he addressed the media after the sentencing.

According to him, the court made no arrangements for that.

“Absolutely nothing was done to that effect”, he told journalists, adding that there was total “silence on the child’s welfare”.

“The child is now being exposed rather than protected”, he argued.

Mr. Vortia, nonetheless said: “Honestly, the judge is within her sentencing powers, she has the discretion”.

However, he noted: “I’m a bit disappointed” considering the “mitigating factors that we canvassed for her: being a first-time, young offender with a lot of responsibilities, a single-mother taking care of a son, her mother and her nephews”.