The court, presided over by the trial judge, Ms Afia Agbanu Kumador, has thrown out evidence tendered in court by complainant and manager of Asamoah Gyan, Samuel Anim Addo, as evidence of threat sent to the latter by entertainment journalist Osarfo Anthony to extort money from the soccer star.

On Thursday 15th October’s hearing of the case, the complainant in the case, Samuel Anim Addo, told the court that Osarfo Anthony and Sarah Kwablah sent him and Asamoah Gyan threatening messages respectively to extort money from Gyan. The court therefore asked him to tender those messages in court as evidence.

On Monday 26th October, the prosecution led by ACP Moses Atibilla, brought the printed messages and asked Samuel Anim if he is indeed tendering those messages as evidence in court and he responded “yes my lord.”

The printed messages bore no name or number of Osarfo Anthony. The counsel for the accused persons led by celebrity lawyer, Dr. Maurice Ampaw, cross-examined Samuel by asking him to indicate to the court that the messages he is tendering in as evidence, was truly sent to him by Osarfo.

In what became a court room drama, neither the prosecutor nor Samuel Anim, could tell or indicate to the court that the said messages were sent by Osarfo Anthony. The trial judge ruled that those messages cannot be accepted as evidence against Osarfo Anthony.

In his usual teasing tone, lawyer Ampaw told the prosecutor in open court, “I’m highly disappointed and shocked at you – that an experienced prosecutor like you did not do your homework well. You people will run away. Trust me (burst into laughter)!

Background

The facts of the case are that the complainant is a businessman and the manager of the Asamoah Gyan Foundation. Prosecution said Chris is the owner of GHbase website while Sarah is a student resident at Dunkonaah at Kasoa.

According to ACP Atibilla, Anthony was an employee of Chris and that in the month of June 2015, an alleged sodomy story involving the skipper of the Black Stars, Asamoah Gyan, broke in the Ghanaian media.

The prosecutor stated that Sarah alleged in a publication that Asamoah Gyan had a sexual affair and unnatural carnal knowledge of her and she became pregnant.

Alleged Extortion Scheme

ACP Atibilla indicated that Sarah discussed the issue with Micah and the two met with Anthony and Chris to publish the story on their website to scare Asamoah Gyan to give them money.

He said Anthony and Chris published the story on their site and promised to publish a sex tape of the affair between Gyan and Sarah in their subsequent edition.

The prosecutor further told the court that a witness in the case read the story on GHbase.com and quickly alerted Samuel to enable them stop the publication, adding that Samuel contacted the publishers on phone and they threatened to make public the sex tape unless a substantial amount was paid or a house was bought to compensate Sarah.

ACP Atibilla said the complainant, in a bid to protect the image of his client, asked the publishers to hold on with the publication whilst he thought of the issue. He stated that Anthony and Chris kept on threatening to publish the video to defame Asamoah Gyan and called for an urgent payment of the money.

Feigning Of Interest By Complainant

As a result, the prosecutor disclosed, Samuel feigned interest to pay and when the publishers were contacted, they in consultation with Sarah and Micah charged a fee of GH¢30,000.

The senior police officer posited that Samuel bargained with the publishers and they settled on GH¢25,000, which the complainant agreed to pay at a meeting at Landing Restaurant in Accra.

ACP Atibilla noted that Samuel, after the arrangement, reported the case to the police. He said on July 29 Samuel met Chris at the restaurant for payment, where an amount of $1000, GH¢6,000 and a cheque of GH¢15,000 were paid to him.

The police officer stated that Anthony was arrested after receipt of the money by the police and the others were subsequently arrested.

Case Adjourned ACP Atibilla after having been slammed in the face by the judge’s ruling, pleaded, “My lord, we have to go back and do our homework. We plead for an adjournment. There’s a lot I must hear from the complainant.” The judge therefore adjourned the case to 9th Nov, 2015.