Pastor arrested for defrauding 2 people

A 24-yr-old self-acclaimed pastor from Ghana has been arrested and charged to court for defrauding two people at Asinadze near Cape Coast in the Central Region.

Emmanuel Kwaakye was charged with the offence of conspiracy to commit crime by false pretences was granted bail to the sum of GH¢10,000 (about N570,000) with two sureties; one to be justified.

According to the prosecutor, Christiana Sampong, the accused and his accomplice, Kweku Joshua, now at large, were both evangelists preaching at Abura taxi station.

Chief Inspector Sampong said during the month of October and November last year, Kwaakye during the course of his preaching made an appeal for an accommodation since he claimed the hotel bills were unbearable for him.

The prosecutor said Eric Ashong - a taxi driver, who was touched by his story, introduced him to his mother who gave Kwaakye a room in her house at Asinadze to occupy freely.

Kwaakye immediately after the introduction reportedly told Ashong he has had a vision that Mr Ashong’s late father was killed by ‘juju’ because the deceased had planted some bars of gold at the back of their home.

Chief Inspector Sampong also disclosed Kwaakye asked the rest of the family to dig the gold out else they would perish.

The culprit then asked for an amount of GH¢240 (about N14,000), from the family which was to be used for the purchase of anointing oil for the rituals.

On the following day around 7:30pm, Kwaakye led Mr Ashong and his family to the back of their house and with a shovel, dug out a small pot tied with red thread, red pieces of cloth and some cowries containing small pins and small arrows and handed it over to Mr Ashong.

The pastor later invited Joshua to the house and introduced him as his colleague who was coming to help him dig out the gold.

Kwaakye and Joshua succeeded in collecting an amount of GH¢600 (about N34,723) from Ashong and the mother under the pretext of buying them oil from Kumasi to be used for the rituals but bolted away.

The prosecutor hinted that during the same period, Ashong had introduced Kwaakye to Felicia Arthur who had been duped of a GH¢1000 (about N 57,871) under similar circumstances.

On February 18, Kwaakye ran out of luck as he was spotted at Yamoransa near Cape Coast and was arrested, and during police interrogation, he said it was his accomplice who bolted with Mr Ashong’s money.

She said Kwaakye added that in Ms Arthur’s case, he bought the oil but left it in a VIP bus.