Driver fined GH¢300 for rearing animals at his residence

A driver, Haruna Abdul Mohayimin, has been sentenced to a fine of GH¢300 by the Hohoe Magistrate Court for rearing and keeping cattle in his residence.

The court deferred the sentence of the convict, who pleaded guilty when he appeared before it in February 2024.

Mohayimin was ordered to stop rearing the animals relocate them from the premises and liaise with Environmental Health officers for a convenient place, which must be inspected to determine its suitability.

The Court, in sentencing the convict, said it considered the fact that Mohayimin had carried out the court order and was also a first-time offender.

The act of rearing animals on premises endangers the health of the public, prohibited by the Public Health Act, 2012, Act 851.

Prosecuting, Frank Azila-Gbettor, told the Court, presided over by John Evans Ocran, that the convict lived in the Zongo (Chief Imam’s premises) and reared cattle in his father’s house at Gbi-Bla (Picnic), where his mother and other siblings resided.

He said on November 7, 2023, a team of Environmental Health Officers on their routine house-to-house inspection, chanced on the cattle and sheep, which were 10 in total, and indicated they would endanger the health of the occupants and people in the neighbourhood.

Mohayimin was educated and ordered to relocate his animals to a convenient place within 14 days.

A follow-up visit on January 17, 2024 by the Environmental Health officers showed the animals had not been relocated and were causing a nuisance to neighbours.

The prosecutor said the rearing of cattle in dwelling premises was likely to expose the public to zoonotic diseases such as tuberculosis, anthrax, contagious bovine and pluero-pneumonia.