<<Print>>

A 22- year- old unemployed man who set his mother�s room on fire at Mankessim in the Central Region, destroying property worth GH₡ 50, 000, has been granted GH₡ 2, 000 bail. Anthony Kobina Ackom who pleaded not guilty was asked by a Cape Coast Circuit Court to produce two sureties and he to re- appear on Tuesday August 11. Barefooted and wearing a dirty yellow T-Shirt over a multi-colored boxer shorts, Ackom, alleged to have a mental health history, exhibited some strange behaviour, intermittently interrupting court proceedings. He did not sit quietly, would not stand up to walk into the dock, stuck out his tongue, attempted to walk out of the court room and tried to remove the thread in his boxer shorts. At a point when the judge, Ms Sedina Agbemava could no longer entertain the interruptions, she ordered the police to send him out of the court for proceeding to continue peacefully. Police Chief Inspector Christina Sampong, who prosecuted said Ackom was feigning metal illness to avoid prosecution, stating that the same behaviour made the previous judge who presided over the case to order that the accused be taken to Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital for a check-up. She presented a report from the hospital which indicated that Ackom was fit to stand trial. Narrating the facts of the case, Chief Inspector Sampong told the court that Mary Korsah, the complainant and Ackom�s mother is a trader and that on Sunday July 12, she travelled to Kumasi for her usual business transactions. She said while there, Ms Korsah received a phone call from one of her neighbours informing her that Ackom had set her house on fire and upon her return to Mankessim she noticed that all her personal belongings was burnt. Chief Inspector Sampong said Ackom was arrested on July 15 after a formal complaint was made by his mother and he admitted committing the offence in his caution statement but did not disclose any reason for his action.