The Nsuta Circuit Court has sentenced two farmers to a total fine of GH¢9,000.00 for inflicting cutlass wounds on two forest guards in the Nyinase Forest Reserve in the Ejura-Sekyedumase Municipality of the Ashanti Region.

Osman Tawure and Solomon Wofsa, would spend 36-months in prison should they fail to pay the money.

The court directed that GH¢3,000.00 of the fine if paid, should be given to the victims, Musa Abubakar and Karimu Ndego as compensation.

Both men were convicted after they pleaded guilty to the offence.

Police Chief Inspector Daniel Gbedzinu told the court, presided over by Ms Lydia Osei Marfo, that the incident happened on October 26, 2017, at midday.

The pair were on routine patrol duty in the reserve, when they detected that the convicts had felled one of the trees for charcoal.

They attempted to stop them, and this led to a struggle, during which Ndego received multiple cutlass wounds on the forehead.

Abubakar also had his middle finger slashed by Tawure as he went to the rescue of his colleague.

The convicts fled, leaving behind their cutlasses and a catapult after the crime, and police investigations led to their arrest.

Meanwhile, Tawure, who is facing a second charge of causing harm to Abubakar, pleaded not guilty to that count and has been kept in prison custody to make his next appearance on Thursday, November 30, 2017.