Court remands pensioner for attempted arson

Kumasi, Oct 22, GNA - A 61-year-old pensioner who attempted burning his family by setting his wife's room on fire was on Tuesday remanded by a Kumasi circuit court.

Louis A. Mensah, whose plea was not taken, will re-appear on October 30.

Chief Inspector Dassana T. Alhassan told the court that Mensah lives with his wife and five children at their Kwadaso residence. He said early this year the accused decided to accommodate his two sisters in one of the rooms of their newly built house. Chief Inspector Alhassan said this decision, however, did not go down well with his wife who objected to the idea, arguing that it will mar their long-standing cordial marriage. He said following the objection the accused engaged the wife in a series of quarrels and warned her that he will let her depart this world in pieces.

The prosecution said on the night of October 17 the accused placed a gas cylinder in front of his wife's room and lit it. He said one of the children sleeping with the mother saw smoke entering the room and told the mother. She forced the door to the room open and the two tried to escape.

Chief Inspector Alhassan told the court that the accused saw his wife and children trying to escape and emerged from where he was watching them and pushed his wife back into the room that had caught fire.

He said but for the intervention of one of their daughters who rescued her mother she would have been burnt to death. Chief Inspector Alhassan said the victim sustained only blisters on her legs.