Porn website administrator accused of ‘sextortion’ discharged
The administrator of Empressleak, a pornographic website, who was accused of sextortion, has been discharged by the Accra Circuit Court over prosecution delay in filing their disclosures.
Anderson Ofosu Hene Anim on Wednesday, July 7, took a deep sigh of relief when the trial judge, Susanna Eduful, told him he was free to go after almost a year of court hurdles.
A not-too-happy judge who had given prosecution, led by Inspector Princess Tetteh Boafo, a considerable amount of time to file their disclosures, appeared to have had her grace period exhausted.
Disclosure is simply a stage of the litigation process when each party is required to disclose the documents that are relevant to the issues in dispute to the other party.
It normally takes place after each party has set out its position in their statement of the case.
But ever since the accused was hauled before the court in August 2020, the police has failed to file their disclosures.
When the case was called on Wednesday, July 7, the prosecutor, Tetteh Boafo, told the court that the accused person’s docket was still with the Attorney General’s office, pending advice.
But counsel for the accused person, Yaw Dankwa, reminded the court that the prosecution had failed to file simple disclosures and thus called for the release of his client.
Counsel pointed that no effort had been made to prosecute the case and prayed the court to strike it out.
He again stressed that the police know the accused person’s whereabouts and could re-arrest him when they put their house in order.
Before discharging the accused, the court pointed that it had given the prosecution ample time and opportunities to file its disclosures but failed to do so.
Based on this, the court struck out the case, adding when they are ready they can re-arrest the accused.
Background
The administrator of the Empressleak website was arrested for illegally publishing nude pictures and videos without the express permission of the owners.
The 35-year-old suspect, popularly known as Mario G, was arrested at his hideout in the Eastern Region.
His arrest follows a report made by a senior high school student on January 6, 2020, to the Cyber Crime Unit that her nude picture was published without her consent.
This was made known at a joint press briefing organised by the Ghana Police Service and the Ministry of Communications.
The Communications Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, explained that the website in question has been noted for publishing child pornographic content for the past six years.
“Available evidence including witness statement showed that the website has been demanding money from unsuspecting victims before their content is pulled down.
“Analysis conducted by the National Cyber Crime Centre has revealed that the website has about 600,000 viewers monthly in Ghana, Nigeria, and the United States.
“On January 6, this year, the computer emergency response team of the cybersecurity agency received a report which led to his arrest on July 31,” she indicated.
The sector minister noted that the issue of sexual extortion, now known as ‘sextortion’, has become a common practice in the country.
Anim was charged with the offence of obscenity, child pornography, extortion of money and money laundering.
a. Publishes child pornography through a computer
b. Produces or procures child pornography for the purpose of its publication through a computer system
c. Possessing child pornography on a computer system or electronic medium commits an offence.