Pastor Jailed 4 Years For Fraud

Emmanuel Ocansey, a 33-year-old pastor, who defrauded his co-tenant of an amount of GH�23,000 has been sentenced to four years imprisonment by the Ashaiman Circuit court presided over Tsatsu Yao Azumah. Pastor Ocansey was jailed after he refused to obey a court ruling which ordered him to refund Francis Kuvordo�s money to him. Inspector Mary Assan, a prosecutor at the Ashaiman circuit court, narrating the incident said both the pastor and his victim, Kuvordo were co-tenants at Bediako near Michel Camp. Kuvordo, who supplies sand and stones, was reportedly asked by the pastor if he was interested in a KIA salon car he (Ocansey) brought home in November last year. Pastor Ocansey, according to Inspector Assan, suggested to his victim that he could offer the car to him on �work and pay� basis. The prosecutor continued that Kuvordo turned down the offer and instead told the pastor that he would have preferred a tipper truck since it could help him in his business. Pastor Ocansey reportedly assured Kuvordu that he could get the tipper truck for him, and requested for a two-week period to get the truck for the complainant. At the said time, Pastor Ocansey called his co-tenant to a car park at the Tema Motor-way roundabout where he showed Kuvordu a Benz tipper truck which he claimed he was offering for sale at the cost of GH�130,000. When Ocansey realized that Kuvordo could not give him the amount he asked for, he suggested to him to make some payment and pay the rest of the money later. A situation Kuvordo accepted, and on December 1, 2011 issued a cheque of GH�23,000 to Pastor Ocansey to be cashed at First Capital Plus Bank. The prosecutor noted that the pastor�s attitude suddenly changed after he cashed the money, as he refused to answer phone calls from his victim and subsequently went into hiding. He threatened to curse Kuvordo with a Bible when he was spotted in town by the complainant on December 18, 2011 after Kuvordo, demanded for either the tipper truck or a refund of his GH�23,000. A report was then made to the police, leading to the pastor�s arrest. Ocansey was said to have admitted committing the offence in his caution statement to the police shortly after his arrest. He was charged with the offense and later granted bail with an order by the court to refund his victim�s money. For failing to comply with the order of the court, Pastor Ocansey who arrived at the court in the company of an investigator, Elizabeth Ntimand, was yesterday given a 4-year jail term to be served at the Nsawam Prison.