Patricia Asiedua
A High Court in Accra has given the Office of the Attorney General up to December 13, 2025, to file the terms of settlement in a plea negotiation with Patricia Asiedua aka Agradaa, who is already serving a 15-year jail term for defrauding by false pretences.
The convicted televangelist in July this year, wrote to the Attorney General seeking a plea deal in a trial in which she is accused of sharing naked pictures of Emmanuel Appiah Fomum, a ‘Prophet’ on live television while making mockery of him.
Agradaa is before the court on four counts including non-consensual sharing of intimate image contrary to Sections 67(1) of the Cybersecurity Act, (Act 1038).
Three others, Enock Owusu Kissi, 33; Charles Omane alias One Gig, 39, and Emmanuel Kofi Gyasi, 47, are also charged with abetment of crime namely; non-consensual sharing of intimate image.
Her lawyer, Kwasi Boafo told the court yesterday that the plea deal discussions were far advanced, and subsequently prayed for a short adjournment to enable the parties conclude the deal.
The court, presided over by Justice Bertha Aniagyei, after confirming the existence of the negotiations from the prosecution, gave the Office of the Attorney General up to December 13 to file the terms of the deal.
The case was adjourned to December 16, 2025, for outcome of the plea negotiations and continuation of the trial.
Meanwhile, the court has asked the prosecution to warn Emmanuel Appiah Fomum, the complainant in the matter, to avoid media interviews that could prejudice the trial.
This was after defence lawyers drew the court’s attention to an interview in which he claimed the lawyers had abandoned the accused persons, while suggesting that Agradaa had drastically changed, including losing her fair complexion since going to prison.
Agradaa, who is already serving a 15-year jail term for defrauding by false pretences, is seeking to reduce the number of years or fine the court would impose on her if found guilty at the end of the trial.
A High Court previously presided over by Justice Mary Yanzuh had ordered the accused persons to open their defence after holding that the prosecution had made a prima facie case against them to warrant a defence, and ordered them to file witness statements for witnesses they intended to call.
Trial
Prosecution document presented to the court indicates that Agradaa, who owns Thunder TV, sometime in 2021, hosted a programme on her TV station “and intentionally showed the naked pictures of the prophet, who is the complainant in the case, on live TV and made mockery of him, with all the other accused persons who were panelists on the said programme encouraging her on the course.”
The said programme was also streamed live on YouTube and Facebook, where a witness in the case saw it and informed the complainant about it.
Agradaa also intentionally distributed intimate images of the complainant to a witness in the case by name Nana Brown via WhatsApp.
Court documents further state that “The first accused (Agradaa) also published the nude pictures of the complainant which she had designed in the form of a product label of a drink (bitters) for sale on Thunder TV.”
BY Gibril Abdul Razak