Church elder jailed for stealing tithe

A 45-year old Church elder, who ignored the Lord's commandment "thou shall not steal", and sneaked into a chapel at midnight and stole more than 400,000 cedis in different currencies, has been jailed six years with hard labour by the Aflao circuit court.

Francis Afortude, a presbyter of the Apostles Revelation Society (ARS) Church sporting a swollen left wrist, as a result of a fall when he was being pursued, pleaded guilty to unlawful entry and stealing. Afortude confessed to stealing 120,000 cedis and 190,000 cedis from the church collections in previous escapades last April and May. He pleaded with the court, presided over by Mr Francis Opoku, to deal leniently with him because "it was not my intention to steal the money but use it to pay a loan of 800,000 cedis I contracted from a woman for a farming project".

He explained that when the project failed he went on his knees and prayed to God to allow him to take the money from the chapel as a loan to pay back the debt. Afortude pleaded to be freed to enable him to harvest his sweet potatoes to pay his debts, including the money borrowed from the "Almighty".

Police Inspector Emmanuel Torgbenu, prosecuting told the court that some members of the church decided to keep watch at the church premises as a result of the frequent thefts at the chapel. He said at about midnight on September 11, the group saw Afortude tiptoe into the chapel, stole some envelopes containing money from the tithe box and stuffed them into his pocket. Inspector Torgbenu said the accused was arrested when he attempted to jump over the fence wall but fell and broke his wrist. The Police found an amount of 318,200 cedis and 9,500 CFA and additional 1,500 cedis in coins during a search at the spot where Afortude fell.

Mr Opoku warned that the court would not have sympathy for persons who commit such disgraceful crimes in the name of the Bible and told the accused: "you should have been a good example to the youth and because God did not receive your prayers He exposed you".