Agnes Yeboah, 47, a druggist, has appeared before a Kumasi circuit tribunal for defrauding a church.

She pleaded guilty with an explanation.

Presenting the facts of the case, Chief Inspector Agnes Dinkyin, prosecuting, told the tribunal that the complainant is Blendel Awah Arthur, the choirmaster of the Mount Sinai Methodist Church at Patase in Kumasi, while the accused is a druggist and resident of Kwadaso Estate in Kumasi.

The prosecutor said some time in May, this year, the complainant was looking for accommodation for one of his church members and contacted the accused at her residence through a witness in the case.

Chief Inspector Dinkyin told the tribunal that the accused promised to give the complainant a chamber and a hall to rent and showed him the rooms which he expressed interest after which the accused demanded ?10 million from the complainant as an advance.

According to the prosecutor, after the accused collected the money, she asked the complainant to come for the keys on June1, this year, but she refused to give him the keys and started telling stories.

Inspector Dinkyin said upon pressure from the complainant, the accused later informed the complainant that she was no more renting the apartment to him, but all efforts to collect his money proved ineffective.

The prosecutor said the complainant, therefore, reported the case to the police.

When she was arrested, she refunded ?6.5 million to the police after which she was charged with the offence.

The tribunal chairman, Mr. V. C. Senu, convicted the accused on her own plea and remanded her in prison custody to appear tomorrow for her sentence.