Akim Swedru (E/R), May 7, GNA - The Akim Swedru Circuit Court in the=

Eastern Region on Friday sentenced Kofi Kumi, a 35-year-old mason, to thr= ee years imprisonment for stealing a dog, a piece of cloth and a cash of GH¢100.00. The items belonged to Pastor Mercy Kumi of Friends of Peace Church a= t Akim Oda. Kumi pleaded 'guilty with explanation' to the charge of stealing. Police Inspector Wilberforce Kwaku Appiah told the court presided ov= er by Mr Kofi Akrowiah that the complainant, Pastor Mercy Kumi and the accus= ed, Kofi Kumi are related and that both of them lived at Totowobotom, a subur= b of Akim Oda in the Birim Central Municipality. He said on April 13, this year, Kumi who stayed in a different house= , visited his sister the pastor, and that on April 26, the pastor left the room to the care of the accused and went to church. When she returned she detected that her watchdog valued at GH¢20.0= 0 was nowhere to be found on the compound, a full piece of wax print valued at GH¢40.00 had disappeared from the room, while a cash of GH¢100.00 she= had kept in her room had also vanished. Inspector Appiah said the accused then went into hiding, but later c= ame out to confess to his sister in the presence of another pastor, whose nam= e was only given as Pastor Kwame, that he had stolen all the missing items. He stated that Pastor Kumi who did not take kindly to the behaviour of her brother, sought the assistance of Pastor Kwame to hand over her broth= er to the Akim Oda Police. 07 May 10