Why the court ordered a pregnancy test before sentencing Camilla Alhassan

When TikToker Camilla Alhassan pleaded guilty on July 10, the court did not sentence her that day. Her Honour Emmanuella Asmah deferred the matter to July 16 and ordered her to take a pregnancy test first.

The order surprised many people following the case. It is not unusual in Ghanaian courts.

Lawyer and journalist Samson Lardy Anyenini explained the practice in 2021, when an Accra Circuit Court ordered the same test for actress Rosemond Brown, known as Akuapem Poloo, before sentencing her.

Anyenini said the law requires a judge to order a pregnancy test for a woman before passing sentence, and that the result changes what the judge can do.

“In the interest of mother and unborn child, the law mandates that if the test proves positive, the judge shall hand a non-custodial sentence or pass a sentence but suspend its execution until an appropriate time, meaning the pregnant convict does not go to jail,” he said.

He added that a suspended sentence carries a condition. “But if she commits another offence during the period, she will be made to serve both the suspended and fresh sentences together,” he said.

Akuapem Poloo was jailed 90 days in April 2021 after pleading guilty to three charges over nude pictures published with her seven-year-old son. Her Honour Christiana Cann ordered the pregnancy test before sentencing her.

The practice is not limited to the circuit courts. In March 2026, the High Court in the Eastern Region ordered a pregnancy test for 25-year-old Vera Asare before sentencing her over an acid attack that killed her boyfriend, Daniel Omane. Relatives of the deceased were angry in court over the delay.

Alhassan was remanded into prison custody between her plea and the test result. She was sentenced to one year on July 16.