The Bibiani Circuit Court, presided over by Mr Baptist Filson, has sentenced a fetish priest accused of gold theft to 20 years imprisonment in hard labour.

Ibrahim Kamara, 34, pleaded not guilty.

Two siblings had sought the assistance of the convict to dig out a pot of gold buried on a farm by their grandparents and he ended up stealing the precious mineral.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Madoma Abotsi said the incident happened at Kwameseikrom near Juaboso.

The complainants, Kofi Asiama and Kwadwo Antwi, had been informed of the hidden treasure by their father and fearing that if they removed it themselves they could be spiritually tormented sought the help of Kamara.

The fetish priest accompanied them to where the gold had been buried, performed some esoteric rites and dug it out.

He later tricked them to pay GH¢5,000 to him under the guise of using the money to buy some items to carry out further spiritual purification before returning it to them.

The prosecution said all efforts to get Kamara to give the pot of gold back to the complainants were unsuccessful and the case was reported to the police, leading to his arrest.

He admitted keeping it but said he needed more time to finish with the purification rites.