Ghanaian jailed in Scotland for assaulting wife

A 49-year-old Ghanaian voodoo practitioner in Scotland will be deported to Ghana after brutally beating his wife.

Michael Yartey, who throttled a trainee doctor has been jailed for 82 days and will be deported back to West Africa on his release.

Yartey came to Scotland from Ghana to start a new life with his medic wife but attacked her days after arriving in Perth.

He who told police voodoo was his religion, had been sponsored to live in the UK by his wife Jessie Vanderpuije.

But she has withdrawn her sponsorship after being subjected to a violent assault in her own home when Yartey seized her by the throat during a row.

He then hurled her to the ground and refused to leave the house in Cedar Drive, Perth, on February 11 this year.

As well as being jailed for 82 days, Yartey was made the subject of a non-harassment order banning him from approaching or contacting his estranged partner.

He was unable to provide a post-release address and, as a result, will be deported back to Ghana after spending the majority of his time in Scotland behind bars.

Perth Sheriff Court was told Yartey arrived from Ghana, where 13 per cent of the population follow the voodoo faith, on January 29 to start a new life.

However, he was arrested and taken into custody after attacking Jessie less than a fortnight later and has been locked up ever since.

Yartey wept in the dock when he initially appeared from custody and admitted seizing her by the throat and pushing her to the ground.

He also admitted acting in a threatening or abusive manner by refusing to leave the house.

Fiscal depute Bill Kermode told the court: “The complainer is no longer willing to be his sponsor, so the grounds for him to remain in the UK will no longer exist and he is likely to be deported back to Ghana.”