8 Ghanaian showbiz personalities who have been jailed before

The 90-day jail sentence handed to social media personality, Rosemond Brown, on charges of publication of obscene material and domestic violence, has stoked conversations across various media platforms.

Widely known as Akuapem Poloo, Rosemond was incarcerated after she posted a nude photo of herself and her seven-year-old son on social media on June 30, 2020.

The complainant in the case was Bright Appiah, who is the Director of Child Rights International Ghana.

He petitioned the police after the photo went viral on social media, and the matter was referred to the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU).

She was handed her sentence on Friday, April 16, 2021, by an Accra circuit court.

But this is not the first time somebody in the Ghanaian showbiz space has been sentenced for committing an offence.

Below are other Ghanaian creative arts people who have been jailed before:

(1). G'manNana Akwasi Agyemang, aka G-man

He was one of Ghana's finest dancers and musicians who could play the piano, drums, and guitar.

He released four albums between 1986 and 1992. His greatest hit 'Highlife in G major' was released in 1986.

In a scuffle with a taxi driver in 1995, he shot the driver. He insists that he never meant to kill the driver but only intended to threaten him to force him to "reverse a curse the driver had placed" on him and his friend Abieku Nyame, alias Jagger P.

He was sentenced to death by hanging in 1995 but was released after a presidential pardon was granted to him in 2009 by then-President, John Agyekum Kufuor.

G-man spent 14 years in jail. He is currently a pastor.

(2) Daasebre GyamenahHighlife musician

Daasebre Gyamenah, was jailed in 2006 in the United Kingdom for possessing substances suspected to be cocaine when he disembarked from his British Airways flight from Accra.

Reports from the Heathrow Airport indicated that their routine checks on passengers arriving at the airport, customs officials, aided by sniffer dogs, picked out the suitcase of the Ghanaian musician.

According to a spokesman for the Customs and Excise at the Heathrow Airport in London, Mr Bob Geiger, Daasebre Gyamena had in his possession, two kilograms of the suspected substance, which was concealed in his suitcase.

He said the street value of the substance was about £100,000.

Gyamenah was subsequently charged for attempting to smuggle cocaine into the UK and was arraigned before the Uxbridge Magistrate's court in London. He spent 11 months in prison.

Gyamenah came into the limelight with his hit song, "Kokooko" in 1999 and has a number of other hit songs.

He was released from jail in 2007.

He died on July 27, 2016.

(3) Kwaw Kese

Hiplife musician, Kwaw Kese, was jailed in 2014 for smoking cannabis in public.

High Court judge, William Boampong, sentenced Kwaw Kese to a day in jail and ordered him to pay a fine of GH¢1,200.

Kwaw Kese paid the fine and served the one-day jail sentence.

(4) Exopa Boss – Ibrahim Sima

Ibrahim Sima was the Chief Executive Officer of the Exopa Modelling Agency.

He was convicted by an Accra Fast Track High Court in September 2011 for possessing and attempting to export 4.9 kilogrammes of cocaine concealed in four tubers of yam.

He died at the Nsawam prison where he was serving a 15-year jail term for trafficking narcotics.

Prior to his death, Sima had complained of a headache. He died on Thursday, December 4, 2014, at the Police Hospital where he was rushed to.

(5) Goodies Music Boss

The Chief Executive Officer of Goodies Production, Isaac Abeiku Aidoo, was sentenced to 13 years in prison with hard labour by an Accra Circuit Court for attempting to export 80 pellets of cocaine to London after he changed his plea to guilty.

The trial came to an abrupt end when, in his defence, he apologised and prayed the court, presided over by Mahamadu Iddrisu, to deal leniently with him as he had never intended to engage in any drug business.

The trial judge did not waste time in sentencing the accused person, known in showbiz circles as Goodies, to 13 years each on two counts of possessing and attempted exportation of narcotic drug without lawful authority. The sentences were to run concurrently.

Mr. Aidoo was released from the Nsawam Prison on Tuesday, December 23, 2014.

Renamed Goodies Music International (GMI), the record label is now headquartered in Belgium, even though it is also well-grounded in Ghana.

(6) Deeba

Ghanaian musician, Akyampong, popularly known as Deeba, shot to fame during the early days of hiplife with his hit tune 'Deeba'.

He was arrested by Interpol after a long search, for allegedly defiling the 8-year-old daughter of his fiancée in the United Kingdom, between 2006 and 2008.

A legal document in relation to this case mentioned that Deeba returned to Ghana from the United Kingdom after living in the UK with his fiancée, with whom he has two biological kids. It was during his two-year stay in the United Kingdom (2006-2008) that he allegedly committed this inhumane act on the girl before fleeing to Ghana.

(7) Ramzy Amui

In 2010, William Ramzy Amui, aka Ramzy, the first runner-up in the first edition of the music reality show, Stars of the Future, was sentenced to 10 years in prison with hard labour by the Tema High Court, presided over by Justice Peter Offei.

Ramzy and eight others pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy, armed robbery, and dishonesty receiving under Article 29, Clause 146 of the criminal code.

His counsel, Capt Nkrabea Effah-Darteh, was not in court on the day of sentencing.

Prosecuting the case, the state attorney, Ms. Hilda Worwonyo, told the court that the complainant in the case, Mrs. Cynthia Koda, a Tema-based businesswoman, on January 23, 2007, reported an armed robbery attack to the Tema Regional Police.

According to Ms. Worwonyo, the complainant said her 4×4 Toyota Hylander, with registration number GT 6409X and an amount of GHS300, were taken from her at gunpoint at her shop in Community 11 the previous evening.

He was released on December 29, 2017.

Ramzy, who is now a minister of God, has songs like 'Ekemi Ye' and 'Asumdwee'.

(8) Popular bouncer Shaka Zulu

Richard Kwabena, aka Shaka Zulu, a bouncer and a popular face on television, was jailed in 2013 by an Accra High Court for robbery.

Shaka Zulu was sentenced by the Court, along with three others, to 30 years in prison each for robbery.

They were said to have violently robbed a businessman, Clever Omwarihiren, at gunpoint at Baatsona on the Spintex Road in Accra.

Shaka Zulu and his accomplices; Wise Gray, alias Biggie; Abass Baba, a trader and Paul Owusu, alias School Fees, a draughtsman, were found guilty and each handed 15 years for conspiracy to commit a crime and 15 years each for robbery, after the trial judge, Justice Charles Quist, found them guilty of the offence.

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