Popular Ghanaian actress, Akuapem Poloo, has been sentenced to three months in prison over a viral nude photo of herself with her son.
During the ruling which took place on Friday April 16 2021, the Circuit court held that the actress would serve her three months jail term concurrently.
According to BBC pidgin, the court sitting in the country’s capital, Accra, reached the judgement to serve as a deterrent to the general public.
The court deferred her sentencing to Friday to allow her undergo a pregnancy test in compliance with the law, however, the test result conducted on the actress whose real name is Rosemond Brown was negative.
The court also said the movie star would serve 90 days in jail concurrently.
The actress who pleaded guilty to the three charges leveled against her reportedly broke down in tears shortly after the court’s verdict on the case.
The charges include publication of obscene materials, engaging in domestic violence in ways that undermines another person’s privacy and integrity, and conduct in any way that undermines another person’s privacy or dignity.
In June 2020, the Ghanaian movie star uploaded a controversial nude photo of herself and her son on the occasion of his seventh birthday.
Akuapem Poloo captioned the photo thus:
“I’m naked in front of you because this is how naked I was giving birth to you, so in case you find me naked lying somewhere don’t pass by me but rather see me as your mom who brought you to life. Happy birthday to you @sonof_poloo”
The Child Rights International, a child rights organization, petitioned the Ghanaian Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to look into the matter.
Many people chastised her for posing naked with her son. The backlash was too much and she apologised after negative reactions trailed the post which she later deleted. She explained that the picture was to appreciate motherhood.
“As an artist, whatever I post is an artistic impression. I’m not trying to put porn on my page or playing porn with him. I am so sorry if I hurt anyone with my post this morning. I also want you to know that it wasn’t made with a bad intention,” she had said.
Akuapem Poloo has over five hundred thousand followers on Instagram and she is popular with young people on social media.