A court in Guinea has sentenced a traditional healer to five years in prison for conning women into thinking they were pregnant.
The court found N’na Fanta Camara guilty of fraud and impersonating a doctor by giving the women harmful substances and endangering their lives.
Her victims and rights groups said they were disappointed with the sentence and were hoping that she would be jailed for life.
Two other accomplices were convicted of similar charges, and were sentenced to three years and four years in prison.
Camara was arrested in January for giving hundreds of women, who had been unable to conceive, a mixture of leaves, herbs and other medicines that caused them to bloat and look pregnant.
For her services, patients paid $33 (£24) in a country where the average monthly wage is around $48 (£35).
Over 700 women aged 17 to 45 are believed to have been affected by Camara’s pregnancy “cure”.
Some of the women reported looking pregnant for 12 to 16 months.
A police doctor, who had examined 47 of the affected women, said at the time that they risked long-term complications from the treatment.
Camara had defended herself, saying: “I work very hard to help [the women] realise their dream but the rest is in the hands of God.”
SOURCE:GHANAWEB