Man jailed for defilement of shrine

From Samuel Kyei-Boateng, Wa

A member of the Kingdom of God Ministries at Jirapa, Richard Dery, whose defilement of a shrine in the town, led to the banning of five churches in the town by the Tendanbas (land owners), has been jailed for four months by the Wa Circuit Court.

The banning of the churches led to a protracted dispute between the Tendanbas and the church leaders which created tension and insecurity in the area. The affected churches were the Church of Pentecost, Assemblies of God, Seventh Day Adventist, Glorious Academy and Deeper Life.

The dispute was, however, resolved amicably by the Upper West Regional Co-ordinating Council last week.

The facts of the case as given by the prosecutor, Inspector Joseph Noble Mante of the Wa Police are that Dery who is a native of Jirapa, initially worshipped at the Tendana Shrine.

He later renounced his membership and decided to form his own church because he claimed he had been instructed by God to be the liberator of the people of Jirapa by preaching the good news to them.

The people of Jirapa ignored his proclamation and called him all sorts of names.

Dery, according to the prosecutor, became frustrated and decided to destroy the shrine.

On February 21, this year, therefore, he set fire to the shrine and broke all pots and calabashes used in performing rituals to the gods.

Dery’s action was to prove to the people that the Almighty God is more powerful than their gods.

After the crime had been committed, the prosecutor said the elders of the town made a public announcement calling on the one who defiled the shrine to own up but after three days no one did.

A meeting was convened between the elders and members of the churches who were suspected to be behind the crime to try and get the one who committed the act to own up and during deliberations, Dery accepted responsibility for the act.

But for the timely intervention of the police who whisked Dery away, the youth who were present at the meeting would have lynched him. The presiding Judge, Mr. Gibson Adzagli, directed that the sentence should take retrospective effect from the day Dery was remanded in custody.