Accra, March 9, GNA- A trader who stole a four-year-old girl and disguised the child, was on Tuesday sentenced to two years imprisonment by a Circuit Court in Accra.

Hawa Osmanu is said to have shaved the victim, Esther Nyamekye's plaited hair and eyebrows. Osmanu pleaded guilty and pleaded for forgiveness, but the court convicted her.

The court said the convict, as a mother of four was a heartless and callous person who should be dissociated from society, because she knew she was not the mother of the victim yet pretended to be.

It noted that she deliberately stole the victim on December 10 last year, and refused to report the matter to the police until she was apprehended on February 7, this year.

The court said the convict's explanation that she absconded to Madina with the intention of tracing the victim's parents was an afterthought.

Prosecuting, Chief Superintendent of Police Khadija Musah, told the court that the complainant, Miss Janet Nadanu is a housewife and resides at Alhaji near Abeka in Accra with her children.

On December 10, last year, at about 0800 hours, the complainant who is the mother of the girl sent her daughter to school. The victim did not return home.

The complainant went to her peers to enquire about the whereabouts of her daughter, and she was told that a certain woman came for her and bought her a coca-cola drink.

The prosecution said that woman could not be traced. Chief Supt Musah said the complainant combed everywhere for her daughter but to no avail. Subsequently, she reported the matter to the police.

The prosecution said on February 8, this year, a Good Samaritan told her that her daughter was with the convict.

The complainant reported the matter to the police and Osmanu was arrested.

During interrogation, Osmanu denied the offence but police investigations revealed that the victim was in the custody of the convict, who had sent the girl to Madina to be taken care of by her uncle's wife.

When the victim was found at Madina, her plaited hair and eyebrow were shaved, apparently to disguise her, but she was identified.