Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempah
The trial of General overseer of Glorious Word Power Ministry International, Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempah, and three others has been adjourned to February 2, 2022.
The prosecution was yesterday expected to call its first witness in the trial in which the cleric is accused of allegedly abetting the other accused persons to assault some police officers.
He is standing trial together with Mensah Ofori, Bright Berchie, Kwabena Nyarko, Nana Acheampong, Naan Brown and Kwame Amoh of Accra based Peace FM.
But their lawyer, Gary NimakoMarfo had sent a letter communicating his inability to attend court because he had another case in a Wenchi Court and prayed the court to adjourn the matter to February 2.
The court presided over by Her Honour Rosemary Tosu, after consulting with the prosecution led by Chief Inspector Dennis Terkpetey,adjourned thecase as requested by the defence counsel.
The prosecution has already filed and served all disclosures as well as statements of witnesses they intend to rely on for trial on all the accused persons and their lawyers.
Rev. Owusu-Bempah is on trial for allegedly instigating an assault on some police officers who attempted to arrest the accused persons as a result of events flowing from alleged threat of death issued out to fetish priest turned evangelist, Patricia OduroKoranteng aka OkomfoAgradaa.
Court documents indicate that following the events at Agradaa’s house, the police identified two of the accused persons in a viral video as some of the people who had brandished pistols during the commotion.
The facts of the case indicated that the complainants who are police officers had visited Rev. Owusu-Bempah’s church at Sakaman, Accra, to arrest Mensah Ofori and Bright Berchie but when they got there, another team of plain clothed officers had already arrested Mensah Ofori and taken him to the Dansoman Police Station, in Accra.
“The first accused (Rev. Owusu-Bempah) on seeing the police personnel ordered his church members to beat and kill them. He further ordered the church members to march to Dansoman Police Station to free Mensah Ofori,” the facts of the case indicated.
It continued that “some of the church members set upon the police and beat them up amidst firing of gunshots, disarmed the police of two service rifles and vandalised Toyota Corolla saloon car with registration number NR 9602-20. Four police men were injured in the process and admitted at the Police Hospital for treatment.”
It added that investigations led to the retrieval of one of the service weapons from a church member while the second weapon was retrieved through the help of the Station Officer of Dansoman Police.
By Gibril Abdul Razak