A Takoradi Circuit Court has remanded two students from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) into police custody on charges of conspiring to commit a crime, specifically ‘sextortion’.
The accused, Jerome Enyam and Ebenezer Adam, both 19 years old and residents of Fijai and Kojokrom respectively, are second-year students at KNUST, Kumasi. Their actions violate the Criminal Offenses Act and the Cyber Security Act.
Prosecuting, D/SGT Robert Mensah informed the Court, presided over by Her Ladyship Harriet Charway, that the accused individuals were friends and classmates of the victim, Rhyndolf Owusu Hammond, a 20-year-old former KNUST student and son of the complainant, Mr. Stephen Owusu Hammond.
The Prosecutor recounted that in early 2023, the complainant’s son recorded a video of an intimate moment with his girlfriend and stored it on his laptop. A close friend and key witness in the case, Ekow Wilson, transferred the video to his personal phone out of excitement. Without Wilson’s knowledge, one of the accused airdropped the video to his own phone and shared it with his accomplice.
Subsequently, in Takoradi, within the jurisdiction of this Court, the two accused, possessing the explicit video, harassed, threatened, and coerced Hammond, extorting GH¢1,800 from him under the threat of releasing the video on social media.
On November 7, 2023, the accused sent an anonymous text message to Hammond, demanding GH¢2,500 to prevent the video’s release. The victim then informed his father, who reported the case to the Police Intelligence Directorate in Takoradi, leading to the arrest of the accused.
Police recovered cell phones containing the explicit video from the accused, and after investigation, they were charged with the relevant offenses.