Herbalist held for fraud

A 22 year-old herbalist, Eshaiwu Mohammed, has been granted bail in the sum of GHc 14,000 by the Tarkwa Circuit Court for defrauding by false pretences.

He pleaded not guilty to the charge, and will re-appear before the court on August 26.

The Prosecutor, Police Detective Chief Inspector Oscar Amponsah told the court, presided over by Mr. Justice Alex Obeng Asante, that in April this year, the complainant, Simon Ayivor and his friend Eric, had information that the accused person was a spiritualist who doubled money.

He said Simon became interested and contacted the accused person with Eric for assistance to enable him get rich and live a comfortable life.

C/Inspector Amponsah said Simon being a native, gave his consent, and the accused person under the pretext of buying some items to begin the process for him to get money, collected various sums of money totaling GHc12,000 from the complainant.

According to the Prosecutor, after the amount had been given to the accused person, he failed to avail himself to the complainant and all efforts made by him to retrieve his money could not yield any result.

The complainant reported the incident to the police, and on July 6 Mohammed was arrested in his hide-out.

C/Inspector Amponsah said during interrogation the accused person informed the police that he collected an amount of GHc9,000 from the complainant for what he requested for.

The accused also explained to the court that the complainant did not adhere to the spiritual rules he gave him, and that this contributed to the failure of the rituals.