Court grants Painstil bail
A former Black Stars player, John Painstil, was yesterday granted bail in the sum of GH¢5,000 with one surety by the Accra Circuit Court for allegedly assaulting two police officers.
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Counsel for the footballer, Mr Samiu Ibrahim, prayed the court to grant the accused person bail to allow him to pursue his football career.
“He was supposed to go back to South Africa yesterday but he could not make it due to this case in court,’’ he said.
Painstil is said to have assaulted the police officers at the East Legon Police Station following reports that he had allegedly stolen a car belonging to his wife.
He pleaded not guilty to four counts of causing harm, offensive conduct conducive to the breach of peace, assault of a public officer and threat to harm.
Bench warrant
Earlier, the court, presided over by Mrs Patricia Quansah, had issued a bench warrant for the arrest of the ex-Fulham United star after he failed to show up at 8:30 a.m., the stipulated time the case was supposed to be heard.
Painstil showed up at 9:05 a.m., five minutes after the court had issued the bench warrant.
The court, however, rescinded the bench warrant after Mr Ibrahim had pleaded on the footballer’s behalf and explained that he had been around the court premises since 8 a.m.
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The case was adjourned to July 14, 2016.
Facts
The facts of the case, as presented by the prosecutor, Chief Inspector of Police Mr David Galley, were that on May 22, 2016, the footballer’s wife reported to the East Legon Police that Painstil had stolen her car.
Painstil, the prosecutor said, was invited by the police the next day and told to produce the documents covering the car on May 24, 2016 for further investigations into the case.
Mr Galley stated that on the said day, Painstil and his wife were at the police station but the footballer did not go there with the car.
“In the course of interrogations, the East Legon District Police Commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police Mr Emmanuel Basintale, asked Painstil to furnish the police with the car for safe keeping and also to enable the police to conduct their investigations, since both the footballer and his wife were claiming ownership of the car,” the prosecutor said.
Anger
Mr Galley said that call by the District Commander did not go down well with Painstil, who got angry and started hurling insults at the police commander and insinuating that the police officer was “biased, unprofessional and had taken sides’’.
“He continued by saying that it was the second time the commander had been biased towards him. The district commander, at that point, ordered the investigator to arrest the footballer and escort him to the charge office to be detained,’’ he stated.
Attempt to flee and fight
Following the order by the district commander, the prosecutor added, the ex-West Ham player got out of the office and attempted to flee by doubling his steps.
“The investigator pursued him and tapped him to stop but he angrily pushed him away. When the district commander intervened, Painstil gave him a heavy blow on the left eye. His eyes turned red and got swollen.
“The District Crime Officer, on seeing what was going on, raised an alarm which attracted other police officers who rushed to assist the district commander.
“Painstil was arrested and detained in police cells. The footballer continued to hurl insults at the district commander, claiming he was having an affair with his wife,’’ the prosecutor stated.