Priest absconds with patient's money

The founder and leader of the Pillar of Fire Healing Church at Abesim near Sunyani, has been arrested by the Police Women and Juvenile Unit (WAJU), at Sunyani for absconding with money paid to him to treat an ailing woman.

Prophet Bright Ackah-Baidoo, was said to have collected ?240,000 from a 75-year-old man, Opanin Issah Okyere, a resident of Yamfo, under the pretext of buying a special olive oil to be used in prayers for the oldman’s daughter, Abena Mpoma, 37, who was suffering from a strange disease.

After collecting the money in December, last year, Prophet Ackah-Baidoo was not seen again until last weekend, at the premises of a Community Tribunal at Sunyani, where he was arrested. His arrest came shortly after he had walked out of the tribunal where he was having a legal battle with a female member of his church for an alleged false prophesy. He has been charged with offensive conduct conducive to cause breach of peace.

Three weeks after he was said to have collected the money form Opanin Okyere, the woman suffering from the strange disease died. Superintendent of Police (ASP) Alex Yartey Tawiah, Head of WAJU, Abena Mpoma was staying with her husband at Old Tafo in Kumasi. Last December, she was suddenly attacked by a strange disease and as a result, her father sent her to Yamfo for herbal treatment.

As the sickness worsened, a family member called in the prophet, who explained that the woman was under a spell and that a special olive oil at ?240,000 would be needed for the prayers. After he collected the money, he vanished into thin air after which the woman died. Speaking to the ‘Times’ in an interview, the suspect said he bought the said oil but sold it when he heard of the death of the woman and that the woman was with somebody whose name he could not mention.