Josephine Panyin Mensah, the lady at the centre of the fake kidnapping and pregnancy case in Takoradi in the Western Region, has been saved from jail.

Although she was found guilty of publication of false news and was supposed to serve a three-year jail term, she was slapped with a GH¢7,200 fine instead because she is currently pregnant.

The fine is on the grounds of publication of false news.

The court, however, acquitted her of the second charge of deceiving a public officer.

In September last year, she was in the media for an alleged kidnapping story, which worried her family and the country.

When she was found at Axim, several miles away from Takoradi, she was mute, unkempt, and without any sign of the said pregnancy.

Claims that she delivered on the same day she was allegedly kidnapped and the baby taken away by her supposed kidnappers were scrutinized after the Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, said the pregnancy was fake.

Further Police investigations affirmed the Minister’s report on the matter that there was no pregnancy and that the kidnapping incident was staged.

Subsequently, the Medical Superintendent at the Axim Government Hospital confirmed that the accused was a healthy non-pregnant pre-menopausal woman when she was admitted.

He said this to the Takoradi Circuit Court A on Thursday, January 13, 2022.