••• And many wailed

January 21, 2011 (Page 3)

THE scene on the premises of the Cocoa Affairs Court yesterday was akin to a church crusade, as a large number of the members of the Jesus Prophetic Ministry wailed, trembled and cursed perceived “enemies” of their prophet.
Prophet Kofi Yirenkyi, aka Jesus Onetouch, was being taken away to begin a 10-year jail term for defiling his own daughter and, for more than 30 minutes, the crowd stayed within the premises of the Cocoa Affairs Court, wailing, chanting and invoking curses as they simply could not bring themselves to the reality that the ‘Prophet’ had been jailed.
Led by the prophet’s wife, Madam Akosua Agyeiwaa, members of his family and leading members of the church, the crowd was at it for more than 30 minutes, demonstrating their anguish and pain interspersed with a free flow of bitter comments.
The spouse and the followers of Prophet Onetouch, who was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment on each count of defilement and incest, wept bitterly and hurled insults on the victim’s mother (who was not present in court) for bringing such mishap on them.
Some of the comments were, “He did not do it.” “God will prove to the world Jesus Onetouch did not commit the crime”; “May God punish those who have brought this mishap to him”; “Oh God, this is too painful”; and “Oh God, why should this happen?”
A woman even turned to the journalists present and warned them to be careful with their coverage since they too might suffer dire consequences.
The convict, who looked calm, kept repeating, “If I am the one who slept with my daughter, may the Almighty God kill me.”
In apparent reference to the police who refused to allow him to talk to the public, Prophet Onetouch said, “So, after convicting me, you will not allow me to talk to journalists?”
Some members of his church were so angry and sad that they lay flat on the floor, weeping bitterly and wondering why that should happen to a man of God.
Some of them had attempted to cause a stir in the court room but the trial judge, Mrs Georgina Mensah-Datsa, was able to stop them on time by warning the first screamer, “If you cannot take the heat, go outside.”
The judge’s warning kept the followers at bay until they left the court room around 9.51 a.m. to freely express how bitter they were.
The incensed crowd, led by Akosua Agyeiwaa, spoke mostly in Twi and fought the policemen for refusing to allow the convict to interact with the large number of journalists who had thronged the court premises to cover the trial.
Akosua Agyeiwaa, who kept asking, “What will happen to my children?”, was held firmly by her friends and family members and urged to control herself but she would not listen.
Her adrenaline level was so high that she was not bothered about the large number of cameramen who had surrounded her to take pictures.
A similar crowd had been very hostile towards journalists in March 2010 when Prophet Onetouch was first arraigned before the court, but yesterday they threw caution to the wind got drowned in their pain.
The police ignored his comments, managed to keep his aggressive wife at bay and drove him off to begin his sentence.
According to the judge, the prosecution was able to prove that the victim was 10 years old, her hymen had been broken, the convict had slept with her on Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays and wiped off the fluid from the sex before beginning his church service on the mentioned days.
The court held that the prosecution had proved the charge of incest against the convict beyond reasonable doubt because the convict himself had stated that the victim was his biological daughter, while the victim had proved to the court that the convict had slept with her several times and wiped off the fluid from their sex with a white handkerchief.