‘Apostle’ Kwabena Owusu Agyei
The trial of a self-styled clergyman, ‘Apostle’ Kwabena Owusu Agyei, 56, who made death threats on the chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), has been adjourned by an Accra Circuit Court to August 18, 2020.
The prosecution had told the court that they needed an adjournment as they are still putting things together for the commencement of the trial.
Appearing before the court presided over by Justice Emmanuel Essandoh, a High Court judge sitting with additional responsibilities as a Circuit Court judge, ASP Sylvester Asare, the lead prosecutor, stated that the prosecution was still putting their documents together and prayed the court to grant them an adjournment.
The court granted the request and adjourned the matter.
The accused person was in court, but none of the three lawyers, who represented him at previous sittings, including Victor Adawudu and Francis-Xavier Sosu, were present when the case was called.
Trial
The self-acclaimed pastor and sympathizer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) who was arrested with marijuana (wee), a narcotics substance in his possession, is before the court facing three counts of threat of death, unlawful possession of narcotics, and assault on public officer.
He threatened to kill the EC chairperson if she went ahead to compile a new voters register, and luck ran out for him when in the course of his arrest, the security agents found the narcotic substance on him.
‘Apostle’ Owusu Agyei caused a stir when on a live Facebook broadcast he said he would kill Mrs. Jean Mensa for daring to compile a new voters’ register for the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections.
He threatened Mrs. Mensa to stop the compilation of the new register or die young at midnight although he did not mention any specific day.
The ‘apostle’ was arrested on June 9, 2020 by some officers of the National Security while he was granting an interview to a journalist with Hot FM.
In a video circulating on social media, some men who claimed to be from the National Security were seen moving into the house of the NDC pastor to arrest him at Indomie Junction at Teshie Greda Estates in Accra.
Things took an interesting twist when a video went viral which suggested that security officers found parcels of a substance suspected to be marijuana (wee) on him later on.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges and was granted a bail of GH¢100,000 with three sureties, two of whom must be public servants earning not less than GH¢2,000 every month.
He was also ordered to report himself to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service every two days – Mondays and Fridays.
The brief facts of the case as read by ASP Asare showed that the Chairperson of the EC, Jean Mensa, on June 5, 2020, made a complaint to the police that the accused person had made death threats against her in the performance of her statutory duties.
He said intelligence led to the arrest of the accused person at Greda Estate in Accra while granting an interview to some journalists.
He stated that a search conducted on the accused revealed a suspected aphrodisiac medicine labelled ‘Mr. Q’, two brown wrapped substances suspected to be narcotic plants as tested conducted on it tested positive for cannabis (wee).
ASP Asare told the court that the prosecution was awaiting a report on the transcription of the video tape by the accused.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak