Landlord jailed 4 years • For threatening tenant

Friday, July 31, 2009 (Page 3)

A LANDLORD who went berserk and attempted to visit mayhem on his tenant was yesterday sentenced to four years’ imprisonment with hard labour by an Accra circuit court.
Harry Agyekum got infuriated when his tenant attempted to negotiate with an electrician to re-connect power to her room after power had been disconnected for months as a result of the non-payment of electricity bills by the landlord and other tenants in the house.
Around 2 p.m. on April 30, 2008, the convict, in the full glare of other witnesses, used unprintable words on Ms Grace Joyce Arko Thompson, who had then been locked up in her room for safety, smashed her windows with his bare hands and a kitchen stool in a bid to enter her room to kill her.
He was found guilty on two counts of threat of death and being on premise for unlawful purpose and sentenced to four years and 12 months on each count, respectively.
The sentences are to run concurrently.
The facts of the case were that on March 28, 2008, the complainant approached Harry to discuss the possible contribution towards the reconnection of power to the convict’s compound but the convict did not take kindly to her suggestion and began casting aspersions at her.
According to the prosecution, around 2 p.m. on April 30, 2008, another tenant contacted an electrician for the reconnection of power to his (tenant’s) room. The complainant approached the electrician who was then on the convict’s compound and expressed similar interest.
Some few minutes later, Harry drove into the compound in his car and, on seeing the complainant interacting with the electrician, got infuriated and engaged in verbal exchanges with Ms Thompson.
He then threatened to break her neck but the electrician intervened, pushed the complainant into her room and locked her up to prevent the convict from harming her.
That notwithstanding, Harry smashed the complainant’s glass windows, worth GH¢140, with his bare hands and a kitchen stool in his bid to gain access to her room for the kill. In the process, he injured his arm.
Not perturbed by the blood oozing out of his injured arm, Harry tried to gain access into the complainant’s room but onlookers rushed onto the scene and prevented him from entering the room.
The complainant managed to call her father on the phone while Harry made frantic efforts to gain access to her room.
The complainant’s father reported the matter to the police, who went to the scene and rescued the complainant.
The police took photographs of the scene and subsequently arrested the convict.