Crime & Punishment of Friday, 17 October 2014

Source: GNA

Student arraigned on fraud charges

A student, Mimi Afua Asante, on Thursday appeared before an Accra Circuit Court for defrauding by false pretence.

Mimi who was said to have defrauded one Enyonam Woollams of an amount of Ghc63, 000.00 pleaded not guilty to the charge.

She was, however, granted bail in the sum of Ghc70,000.00 with two sureties, one to be a public servant and is to reappear before the court presided over by Mr Francis Obiri on October 17.

Presenting the facts of the case, Police Inspector Adu told the court that the complainant, Enyonam is a student living at Achimota Tantra Hills, while Mimi is also a student residing at Dansoman.

He said the complainant and the accused person are friends. In February last year, the accused approached the complainant to assist her financially to pay her school fees.

The prosecution told the court that, Enyonam then informed her mother in the United States who sent her money out of which she gave Mimi, Ghc3,000.00 to pay her school fees.

Police Inspector Adu said Mimi on realising that, the complainant was having enough money, approached her and convinced her to make an investment with the money. She then convinced Enyonam to believe that she had enjoyed a high interest rate on a similar investment.

He said the accused person, as a result collected Ghc63,000.00 from the complainant to invest for her but used part of the money to buy a private car and spent the rest, and later tried to use the same modus operandi to collect additional money from the complainant.

According to the prosecution, this raised the complainant’s suspicion and made a demand of the documents on the previous money invested, but the accused person could not produce any document.

He told the court that a report was made to the Mile 7 police and Mimi was arrested. In her investigation caution statement, she admitted the offence, stating that she used part of the money to buy a private car and spent the rest.