Nkawie (Ash), July 20, GNA- The Nkawie Magistrate's court last Wednesday fined a 28-year-old farmer, 1.8 million cedis for fraud and trying to escape from lawful custody.

Yaw Dagarti, who pleaded, will pay one million cedis for trying to escape from custody or in default serve a five-month prison sentence. He is also to pay 800,000 cedis for selling ordinary water as weedicide or go to prison for four months.

Police Inspector G.K. Letsah told the court that Arazalo Kusasi, the complainant, lived at Kwaku-Mire village near Nyinahin with the accused.

He said on June 27, 2004, at about 1900 hours Dagarti went to the complainant's house with five bottles of water, which he sold to the complainant as weedicide.

Inspector Letsah said Dagarti sold a bottle of the fake weedicide to Arazalo at 25,000 cedis and the complainant paid 40,000 cedis as part payment.

He said when Arazalo applied the liquid on his crops he found that it was fake this prompted him to show the remaining bottles containing the alleged weedicide to his friend who discovered that the bottles contained ordinary water.

Inspector Letsah said when Dagarti was confronted, he admitted that the contents in the bottles were not weedicides. He was arrested and placed in police cell where he tried to escape.