Jesus One Touch to appeal against order

Wednesday, May 12, 2010 (Page 3 Lead)

THE Founder and General Overseer of the Jesus Blood Prophetic Ministry, Prophet Nana Kofi Yirenkyi, has decided to appeal against an order to open his defence and answer incest charges levelled against him.
The court, on May 7, 2010, ordered Nana Yirenkyi, alias Jesus Onetouch, to open his defence yesterday after it had dismissed his ‘submission of no case’, but his counsel, Mr Adomako Acheampong, informed the court yesterday that his client was appealing against the court's decision.
Counsel also indicated that the accused person intended to file an application for stay of proceedings pending the outcome of the appeal.
Prophet Onetouch has pleaded not guilty to two counts of incest and defilement and has been refused bail.
According to his lawyer, there were numerous typographical errors and omissions in the record of proceedings and that had delayed the filing of the notice of appeal.
Counsel, however, indicated that the errors had been rectified, for which reason the defence team needed a short adjournment "to enable us to put our house in perfect order".
The court, presided over by Mrs Georgina Mensah-Datsa, accordingly adjourned the case to May 24, 2010.
Later, the prosecutor in the case, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Mrs Sarah Acquah, prayed the court to remand the accused person in prison custody because the police were having security problems where he was being kept.
She further stated that her life had been threatened.
But defence counsel vehemently opposed her application.
According to counsel, he had been to the police cells where his client was being kept several times and so far not a single police officer at the station had complained of any security challenges.
He further stated that it was important for the prosecution not to crucify his client before judgement was passed in the case.
In its ruling, the court held that it had trust in the Ghana Police Service and believed the prosecutor would be given maximum protection.
It further indicated that the accused person should be kept in police custody because it would expedite the trial and cited instances of accused persons on remand in prison custody not being brought to court for as long as two weeks.
The facts of the case are that the 10-year-old victim confessed that the accused person, after bouts of sexual intercourse with her, wiped off the sperms from his sexual organ and the fluids from her vagina with a white handkerchief.
According to the prosecution, the victim, who was born out of wedlock, lived with her mother at Dawu in Akuapem until 2005 when she relocated to Accra to live with her father at McCarthy Hill to attend school.
It said in the latter part of 2007, the accused person began having sex with the victim before he organised church service each time.
In November 2009, the accused person gave the victim’s mother, who happened to be the complainant in the case, an opportunity to hold discussions with the victim about a bad behaviour she was exhibiting.
During the interaction with her mother, the victim revealed her ordeal to her mother, which resulted in the woman lodging a complaint with the police.