Fourteen granted bail in the Juansa Saviour Church violence

Juansa (Ash), Jan. 4, GNA - The Agogo police has granted 14 members of the Juansa branch of the Saviour church of Ghana a police enquiry bail for their involvement in a violent clash with another faction in the church at Juansa near Agogo.

The arrest of the 14, who constituted one faction in the church, followed a shooting incident that erupted in the church on Sunday. The violence also resulted in the burning down and demolishing of houses belonging to some church members.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Cosmos Damoah, Agogo District Police Commander who briefed the Ghana News Agency, said the founder of the church, Prophet Isaac Asirifi, now deceased was said to have bequeathed the church to his son whose name was only given as Elia. He said the decision, which seemed not to have gone down well with some members of the church, led to Elia breaking away from the main church but continued to bear the church's name and shared the same mission house. On December 30 last year the Elia faction, who had returned from a nearby community where they played a football match and were celebrating their victory, were confronted by the other faction resulting in the free for all fight. In the course of the clash one Peter Oteng pulled a locally manufactured gun and shot indiscriminately hitting two church members. Infuriated by the action of Oteng, the Elia faction retaliated by setting ablaze three rooms belonging to Oteng and his family, destroying properties running into millions of cedis.