Court fines tenants for storing wastewater behind bath house

Vida Damani and Augusta Aboagye, tenants residing in Hohoe-Ahado have been sentenced to a fine of GH¢1,200 each by the Hohoe Magistrate Court for storing wastewater behind their bath house.

Damani and Aboagye pleaded guilty and were subsequently convicted on their own plea.

The duo would serve six months imprisonment in default.

They, however, pleaded not guilty to a charge of indiscriminate disposal of human excreta at the same spot and would reappear in Court on August 18.

Mr. Frank Azila-Gbettor, Chief Environmental Health Assistant at the Hohoe Municipal Assembly, prosecuting, told the Court presided over by Mr. Peter Anongdare that Environmental Health Officers detected the nuisance on their house-to-house inspection on March 19, this year.

He said the Officers found wastewater stored behind the bath house of the convicts which was breeding mosquitoes.

Mr. Azila-Gbettor said human excreta was deposited at the same spot, indiscriminately disposed of due to lack of a household latrine.

He said the convicts were educated to stop the uncultured practice and to construct a household latrine.

The Prosecutor said on June 15, 2020, the Officers revisited the convicts’ house only to find out that the act persisted as they failed to construct the latrine as advised.

Mr. Azila-Gbettor said the convicts were brought before the Court to serve as a deterrent to people who are engaging in similar acts.

The court has also directed prosecution to re-inspect the house of the convicts in relation to the charge of indiscriminate disposal of human excreta and report to the court on the next adjourned date.