Patricia Asiedua, aka Nana Agradaa
Popular fetish priestess-turned evangelist, Patricia Asiedua, aka Nana Agradaa, has been fined an amount of GH¢36,0000 by an Accra Circuit Court.
This was after she changed her plea from not guilty to guilty and the court convicted her accordingly on the charge of charlatanic advertisement contrary to section 137 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 and another charge under section 110 of the Electronic Transaction Act 2008, Act 772.
The prosecution was in the process of serving her with disclosures which include the documents they intended to rely on for the trial when she said she was no longer interested in prolonging the matter.
The court, presided over by His Honour Emmanuel Essandoh, in sentencing her, imposed a fine of 3,000 penalty units (GH¢36,000) and in default the ‘Sika Gari’ promoter will face three years’ imprisonment in hard labour for count one.
The court also fined her GH¢10,000 or in default serve one year imprisonment for count two and both sentences are to run concurrently.
Trial
Agradaa was hauled before the court charged with offences of charlatanic advertisement (Sika Gari) contrary to section 137 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960.
She was also charged under section 110 of the Electronic Transaction Act 2008, Act 772.
On April 22, Agradaa pleaded not guilty to the charges and was granted a GH¢500,000 self-recognizance bail by the court after which the court also ordered her to deposit her passport at the registry of the court as part of the bail conditions.
In the ensuing heat Agradaa said, “I was at work when the National Security picked me up. They said my station was one of the 49 they are closing down. I admitted I had not paid my licence for about a year.”
Sika Gari
Her ‘Thunder’ television station, as well as 47 other networks, were all shut down by the National Communications Authority (NCA) on April 21.
According to the authorities, Agradaa has been using her ‘Thunder TV’, in particular, to advertise Sika Gari, a supposed money-multiplying ritual intervention, which she describes as her personal god and advertises lavishly.
The police later said that a number of people had come forward claiming Agradaa duped them and subsequently filed official complaints against her.
The fraud charges pressed against her were lodged in different police stations across the country, and in all the complaints filed, they mentioned Sika Gari as the reason for being defrauded, according to the police.
A video earlier popped up showing the controversial Agradaa defending her Sika Gari rituals, giving reasons she dupes those who want to be rich overnight and makes her hoodlums attack such people when they try to prove stubborn.
Agradaa, in a cynical fashion, tried to quote from the Bible by saying that the “Holy Book even says that a fool will sweep his home and bring the money to the wise one.”
In a tone that suggested some level of impunity, Agradaa said spiritual matters cannot be proven in court.
Dramatic Shift
Agradaa on Tuesday, April 27, held a news conference claiming she is turning to Christ and would not do the fetish business again.
She got out of jail on Thursday, April 22, after her highly publicised arrest on Wednesday, April 21, but was quickly re-arrested by the police, supposedly over a complaint filed by Reverend Kwaku Antwi, popularly known as Rev. Obofuor, founder and general overseer of the Anointed Palace Chapel.
She was subsequently released on Friday evening, April 23, and she held a news conference later denouncing the gods she has been serving and said she is now an evangelist ready to do the will of God.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak