Fire officer jailed two days for beating court bailiff

The Probate and Administration Division of the Accra High Court has sentenced a Fire Service Officer, Emmanuel Ayitah Quansah,  to two days imprisonment  for beating a court bailiff.

Ayitah was found guilty of contempt of court for beating the bailiff who wanted to serve him with documents in a civil case.

The court, presided over by Justice Sarah Aryeee, held that assault on judicial officers must not be encouraged.

“This canker  has to be nipped n the bud.

The respondent is found guilty  of contempt  of court since he failed to purge himself when the court gave him the opportunity to do so before the court,” the court ordered.

The case was brought to the attention of the court by the Judicial Staff Association of Ghana (JUSAG).

What happened?

Per the court records, the bailiff decided to serve the Fire Officer at his home with court documents in relation to a dispute over a will of someone.

Ayitah refused to accept the court process, insisting that it should be served at his office.

According to court documents, the bailiff threw the process at the fire officer  who got annoyed and beat up the bailiff.

From the Court's record, the Bailiff was entrusted with a process to serve on the Respondent in this matter. 

Contempt

Making a case for the Fire Officer to be committed for contempt, counsel for JUSAG, Theophilus Donkor, said the bailiff was performing his official duties and should not have been subjected to such an assault.

“The respondent  being a serving Fire Service  Officer ought to have known that the bailiff was performing his official duties and if he had any challenge with the process or the mode the bailiff was using, he could have come to court to verify.

He should not have resorted to taking the law into his own hands.,” the counsel said

Bailiffs angry

At yesterday’s hearing of the contempt case, some  bailiffs and court officials at the Law Court Complex in Accra were angered by the actions of Ayitah, insisting that he must face the consequences of his actions.

After the sentence, a bailiff expressed his displeasure at what he described as the lenient punishment meted out to the Fire Officer.

“We do not want to take the law into our own hands but we think it is not fair for the judge to impose only two days sentence on someone who decided to beat an officer of the court.

This is the highest form of contempt,” one bailiff told Graphic Online.