Court threatens to strike out Obinim's case

Page 3: Daily Graphic, November 29, 2011.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Accra Circuit Court has threatened to strike out the case in which the founder of God’s Way International Church, Bishop Daniel Obinim, and two of his junior pastors are being prosecuted for allegedly vandalising and attacking the host and panel members of Hot FM, a private radio station in Accra.
When the case was called yesterday, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Mr Reindorf Agyemang, told the court that there was no representation from the Attorney-General’s (A-G’s) Office although a State Attorney, Ms Cynthia Lamptey, had been assigned as the substantive prosecutor after the A-G took over the prosecution.
The judge, Mr Eric Kyei-Baffour, said he was very disappointed in the A-G and that it seemed the A-G was not interested in the case.
“I do not accept delays in my court. If the state prosecutor fails to appear to prosecute the case at the next adjourned date, I will strike it out for want of prosecution,” he said.
He subsequently adjourned the case to December 19, 2011.
The other accused persons are Kofi Akwetteh, 35, and Kingsley Baah, 27.
Bishop Obinim, Pastor Kingsley Baah and Pastor Kofi Akwetteh are jointly facing charges of conspiracy to commit crime, unlawful entry, causing damage to private property and assault.
Bishop Obinim, however, is charged with two additional counts of using an offensive weapon and causing unlawful harm.
They have, however, pleaded not guilty to all the charges and have been admitted to bail in the sum of GH¢50,000 with two sureties each.
The facts of the case are that about 9:40 p.m. on August 8, 2011, there was a programme on Hot Fm, ‘Nya Asem Hwe’, was being hosted by Kwame Ntim Katakyie.
One of the topics being discussed was an alleged sex scandal involving Bishop Obinim, whose name was mentioned in the course of the programme and his alleged tape-recording of the issue played on air.
According to the prosecution, the programme highlighted issues concerning Bishop Obinim’s wife and an associate pastor.
The accused persons, on hearing the issue being discussed, stormed the FM station with a pinch bar and started vandalising the sliding doors and studio equipment, the prosecutor told the court.
Studio equipment destroyed by the accused persons included a voice processor valued at GH¢7,500; telos hybria, GH¢18,000; head phone distributor, GH¢6,000; two CD players, GH¢4,500; three telephone sets, GH¢2,250; one Dell desktop personal computer, GH¢450; one Toshiba laptop, GH¢750, and one Samsung laptop, GH¢1,600.
The rest of the items were one phone, valued at GH¢800; one console, GH¢18,000; one electro voice microphone, GH¢3,750; one microphone stand, GH¢2,250; glass doors, GH¢20,000, and a KFM transmitter, GH¢45,000.
The total cost of all the items was put at GH¢130,850.