COURT ISSUES WARRANT FOR ARREST OF PASTOR FOR DEFILEMENT

AN Accra circuit court has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of Pastor Nana Akwasi Agyeman who is accused of defiling eight girls under his care.
The court ignored pleas by counsel for Pastor Agyeman to stand the case down to enable them to provide evidence that the Man of God had been taken seriously ill and could not come to court.
Pastor Agyeman was alleged to have defiled the girls, aged between three and 12, between May and December 2006 at his St John’s residence near Dome in Accra.
The girls’ parents, who are all domiciled in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, were said to have arranged with the pastor to take care of the girls in Ghana.
Initially, the pastor faced eight counts of defilement and pleaded not guilty to the charges and was granted bail in the sum of GH¢50,000 with two sureties.
However, when the case was called yesterday, the prosecution entered a nolle prosequi in six of the counts, which unconfirmed information said would form the basis of a fresh trial at the Fast Track High Court.
According to the facts of the case, Pastor Agyeman was the pastor of the Shiva Linga Church based in Abidjan. He also runs a prayer centre in Accra, along with being a herbalist.
The complainants are either members of his church or became associated with the pastor through his prayer centre.
The prosecution said the accused person lived in both Abidjan and Accra and that while in Accra, he lived with a number of children who were brought from Abidjan to live with him.
Pastor Agyeman is alleged to have secretly had sexual intercourse with the eight girls in his bedroom and bathroom.
The prosecution said he was found out when he had sex with a 12-year-old girl who visited him from Abidjan in December 2006.
The girl said while she was on holidays in Accra, the accused person defiled her and she, therefore, reported the matter to her parents when she returned to Abidjan.
She was alleged to have also said that the accused person had defiled most of the girls under his care and when their parents called them on telephone to enquire, the allegation was confirmed to them.
When the accused person was confronted with the allegation, he denied it, but two other parents whose children were said to have fallen victim came to Ghana and reported the matter to the police.
When the victims were issued with medical forms to undergo medical examination, doctors confirmed that all the eight girls had been defiled.