Two phony pastors remanded over car theft

Two persons who posed as pastors and allegedly issued a dud cheque to the tune of GH₵42,000 to purchase a car in Kumasi, have been remanded into prison custody by a Kumasi Circuit Court.

The pleas of Justice Osei and Emmanuel Kwasi Anane, who claim to be car spare parts dealers at Kasoa in the Central Region, were not taken and the Court presided over by Madam Mary Nsenkyire remanded them for two weeks.

Another suspect, Francis Owusu, is on the run.

Prosecuting, Police Chief Inspector Edith Oppong Nyarko, told the court that Christopher Audio, an employee of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), who lives at Asokore-Mampong, near Kumasi, had an intention of selling his Toyota Corolla car.

He said the complainant duly displayed his telephone contact and the ‘for sale’ inscription on the unregistered vehicle.

The prosecution said on the 15th of April this year, the complainant who had parked the vehicle in front of his house, had a telephone call from accused persons, expressing interest to buy it.

He said they arranged to meet and Osei and Anane introduced themselves to the complainant as the head pastor and second head pastor respectively, of Grace Ministry at Kotwi, near Kumasi whilst the third accomplice also posed as an elder of the same church.

The prosecution said after they all settled on GH₵42,000, Osei issued GT Bank cheque Number 0005634795 dated 15-02-2019 with the face value of the said amount, to be transferred into complainant’s account.

Prosecution said the complainant handed over the ignition key together with documents covering the vehicle and the accused persons drove the car away.

He said three days later, the complainant presented the cheque to the bank and it was dishonoured, after which a report was made to the police.

The prosecution said Police intelligence led to the arrest of the two accused persons, who were found to have committed similar car stealing crimes and were also not pastors of the church they mentioned.

He said the complainant later identified them as those who purported to buy his car.

The Prosecution said in their police cautioned statement they admitted stealing the car but said it had been sold out in Accra.

He said the Police were making efforts to trace the stolen car.