Earlier this month, Joseph Amoako, a winger for Asante Kotoko, returned to the club after being released from prison in Sweden. Amoako had been on a season-long loan deal with the Swedish Allsvenskan club, Helsingborgs IF, when he was reportedly found guilty of statutory rape of a minor in Sweden and sentenced to two years in jail.
The 20-year-old was detained by Swedish police in November 2022 and charged with engaging in sexual affairs with a minor. Helsingborgs IF canceled his loan deal due to the rape allegations, and the contract expired in January 2023 as per the agreement with his parent club, Asante Kotoko.
The Helsingborgs District Court initially found Amoako guilty on two counts and sentenced him to 24 months in jail, but he was later freed from the charges after an appeal.
Amoako arrived in Ghana last week and visited his teammates at the Adako Jachie training complex in Kumasi on Wednesday morning. He was the third Ghanaian footballer to be handed a wrongful prison term in Sweden over rape allegations, after Kingsley Sarfo and Kwame Bonsu.
Amoako struggled for playing time at Helsingborgs IF, where he only made ten appearances, playing for 295 minutes across all competitions.
However, he was not registered by Asante Kotoko for the 2022/23 Ghana Premier League campaign, which makes him ineligible to play for the Porcupine Warriors.
