SENEGALESE JAILED 7 YEARS FOR FRAUD (PAGE 30)

A Senegalese national, who proposes marriage to desparate husband seekers with sound financial background in order to defraud them, has been sentenced to seven years imprisonment.
The convict, Jean Noel Diouf Boure, 39, also allegedly posed as a reverend minister, a medical doctor and a son of Senegalese envoy to Canada, using fake accompanying documents to back his claims.
Upon his arrest, the police found in his possession letter heads of the Kumasi branch of the Ghana Institute of Languages and Methodist Church of Senegal, four certificates of ordination and one rubber stamp, which he used to introduce himself to his unsuspecting victims.
Jean Noel Diouf Boure pleaded guilty to the charges of defrauding by false pretences and having in his possession a stolen property. The court, presided over by Mr Charles Nimako, convicted him on his own plea and sentenced him to seven years in hard labour.
According to the prosecutor, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Ayamga Y. Akolgo, the accused presented himself as a medical doctor and a reverend minister of the United Methodist Church of Senegal and succeeded in collecting GH¢1,000 from one of his victims.
The prosecutor, who is also the Kwesimintsim District Police Commander, said the suspect proposed marriage to a sister of one of the victims and proceeded to the family at Denu, near Aflao in the Volta Region to collect the list of items needed for their marriage.
Mr Akolgo told the court that to enable him get the money from the victim he told his lover to introduce him to her sister as a medical doctor from the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi.
When the lover of the convict was hospitalised Jean Noel Diouf Boure went to the sister of his lover and told her he was expecting money from his father who was the Senegalese Ambassador to Canada and succeeded in collecting GH¢1,000 from her.
The prosecutor said when the time set by the convict to pay the money elapsed and every effort to retrieve it proved futile, the women reported the case to the police who effected his arrest. A search on him led to the discovery of the documents.
Mr Akolgo said one of the victims in Kumasi told the police that she was actually married to the convict, and after depleting her bank account, and apart from accumulating daily debt that she had to deal with, she was forced to divorce Jean Noel Boure.
The prosecutor said the victim, who was an employee of the Ghana Institute of Languages, said the suspect’s mode of operation was to play on the weak points of women and take undue advantage of them financially.