Crime & Punishment of Sunday, 13 February 2005

Source: GNA

Court orders civil case turned into a criminal case

Ejisu (Ash), Feb. 13, GNA - A magistrate's court at Ejisu has directed the police to turn a civil case against a chemical seller into a criminal case and institute criminal proceedings against him. The court presided over by Mr Noble Nkrumah gave the order when it was told that injections administered by Mr Mike Boamah, a chemical seller at Boankra on Madam Amma Oyinkah, a trader, has had serious effects on her as she now limps.

However, Mr Boamah told the court that it was the complainant who forced him to administer the injection on her. Explaining the circumstances that led to his administering the injection, Mr Boamah explained that when the complainant approached him in his shop, he gave her drugs as first aid and asked her to go home but she refused.

He said the complainant told him that she would die if he did not give her an injection and spent almost four hours at his chemical shop pleading with him to administer an injection on her.

Mr Boamah said the complainant stayed at the shop till the time he was closing and was therefore finally forced to administer the injection on her and asked her to see a medical doctor the next day. He said three days later the mother of the complainant informed the town's Unit Committee Chairman that he (Boamah) had administered an injection on her daughter resulting in her inability to walk. The Unit Committee Chairman, Mr Boamah said, also reported the case to Boankra police who arrested him.

After listening to the defendant, the magistrate asked the police to prefer criminal charges against the two.