THE REPUBLIC vs SPAYN NARH @ STUTTGART WOODS
2025
HIGH COURT
CORAM
- HER LADYSHIP, COMFORT KWASIWOR TASIAME, JUSTICE OF THE HIGH COURT
Areas of Law
- Criminal Law and Procedure
- Evidence Law
- Technology Law
- Media Law
2025
HIGH COURT
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
Philip Spayn Narh, using the aliases “Sharon Stuttgart Woods” and “Valquez Rodeo de Mel,” was prosecuted in the Ghana High Court for sexually extorting Nuertey Rachael Dede Yomor, nonconsensually sharing her intimate images, publishing obscene material, and possessing cannabis. Narh met Rachael via Telegram, posed as a German-American philanthropist promising help to study at MIT, and lured her to Bawaleshie where he coerced and recorded sexual acts. He threatened to leak and actually published images and videos on the Telegram porn channel “ADULT HOUSE” and shared them with a user “Fiifi Collins.” Digital forensic analysis linked multiple Telegram accounts (including “Ann Marie”) and tied transfers of media between his Samsung and Sony Ericsson phones. The complainant suffered severe emotional distress, confided in her coding tutor, and the police arrested Narh; a search recovered explicit media and cannabis. The court relied on unchallenged testimony, forensic evidence, and admissions to convict on sexual extortion and nonconsensual sharing, acquitted on the obscene publication count as covered by other charges, and convicted on narcotics, imposing concurrent custodial sentences and fines.
The accused was arraigned before this Court on 27th July, 2023 and charged with the following offences: Sexual Extortion under section 66(1)(a) and (b) of the Cybersecurity Act, 2020 (Act 1038), Nonconsensual Sharing of Intimate Images under section 67(1) of Act 1038, one count of Publication or Sale of Obscene Material contrary to section 280 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), and three counts of Unlawful Possession of Narcotic Drugs contrary to section 37(1) of the Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019).
BRIEF FACTS
The brief facts of this case are that the Complainant, Nuertey Rachael Dede Yomor, is a 19yearold Senior High School graduate and lives with her parents at Kpone, while the accused, Philip Spayn Narh @ Sharon Stuttgart Woods is a 26yearold plumber and hair stylist, residing at Bawaleshie near Dodowa with his father. In the latter part of the year 2020, the Complainant was introduced to the accused by a girl known as Delphine whom she met via Telegram, an online social media platform. The suspect created the impression that he was a female GermanAmerican by name Sharon Stuttgart Woods, who was into financial services and had come to Ghana to do business. He further portrayed himself as a philanthropist, with a passion to help black girls achieve their dreams and could assist the Complainant travel abroad to further her education at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT.
The Complainant disclosed her interest in IT, stating her ambition to become a web developer with a longterm goal of creating Artificial Intelligence.
In December 2020, the accused informed the Complainant that she had arrived in ' ' Ghana and arranged to meet with the Complainant at a hotel in Dodowa in order for them to get acquainted with each other. On 8th December 2020, while on her way to the said location, the accused sent her a text that ' she' had been summoned for an urgent meeting and that the Complainant should wait at ' her' driver s brother s place ' ' at Bawaleshie. Unknown to the Complainant, the said driver s brother was actually ' the accused. When she arrived at the said location, the accused, sent another message, compelling the Complainant to have sex with the said driver after which it would be recorded, to test her loyalty, as a precondition to assisting her in getting a place at MIT. The accused coerced the Complainant into having sex with him and he recorded it. The complainant, distressed by the circumstances surrounding h