MP in court for beating wife...

The Member of Parliament for Afram Plains South, Joseph Appiah Boateng, and his girl friend, Patient Akpa are on trial at the Kaneshie District Court for allegedly assaulting his wife, mother-in-law and a driver, during a confrontation on May 26, 2012.

According to evidence given by the investigator, Sgt. Bawa, before the court presided over by Alhajia Mariama Sinari, the complainants, Nancy Nyakotey, the MP’s wife, Regina Aikins, the MP’s mother-in-law and Kofi Hagan, Taxi driver, were assaulted by the accused persons.

In addition, three doctors from the Kaneshie Polyclinic also testified before the court, confirming the alleged assault meted out on the complainants.

Nancy Nyakotey, first complainant, told the court during cross-examination that she visited the husband with their son in the morning of the very day of the incident, and was dropped off by her husband later on at an internet café as he continued with his son to her mother at Achimota.

She indicated that she stayed long in the café for which reason the mother went to the husband’s house in search of her, after several failed attempts to get in-touch with her through her phone, which was off at the time.

After her business at the internet café, she boarded a taxi to her mother’s residence, where she also resides, but could not locate the house since she was new to the area, but had to return to her husband’s residence at Sowutoum, a suburb of Accra, when her mother instructed her to be there, the court heard.

The MP’s wife noted that, on her arrival at Sowutoum, she met her mother, son and brother, who had been refused entry into the house by her husband, and on entering the house, she found her husband in the company of another woman.

According to the MP’s wife, she confronted her husband and asked him to return items in the house that belong to her and some monies he had borrowed from her some days before the incident.

Nancy Nyakotey noted that the confrontation angered the MP, who together with his mistress, assaulted her and was chased out of the house, adding that her “yelling and shouting attracted her mother, driver and brother, and other individuals to intervene and in the process the second accused person bit my mother’s palm.”

The MP, she indicated, further attacked the Taxi driver and inflicted various degrees of injuries on him.

The incident was, therefore, reported to the Odorkor Police station. Medical forms were issued to the complainants for treatment.

The MP, who was charged for assault and damage of property, pleaded not guilty to the charges leveled against him. He has been granted bail together with his mistress, and they are expected to re-appear before the court on July 22, 2013.