Accra, July 15, GNA - The High Court in Accra on Friday upheld a motion filed by the state to arrest its judgement in respect of the appeal filed by Nana Kofi Yirenkyi, aka Jesus One Touch, Founder and General Overseer of the Blood of Jesus Prophetic Ministry. It therefore ordered the Circuit Court to furnish it with the record of proceedings, including exhibits and records of appeal. According to the court, both records for instance were not properly indexed and they lacked exhibits tendered at the lower court. The court adjourned the appeal sine die.
On June 15 this year, the court fixed Friday, July 15 to deliver its judgement on the appeal filed by Yirenkyi, who is serving a 10-year jail term for incest and defilement. When the case was called, Mr Rexford Anthony Wiredu, Principal State Attorney, drew the court's attention to his motion paper asking the court to arrest its own judgement.
According Mr Wiredu, the court should arrest the judgement so that the proper thing was done in respect of the records before it. Mr Wiredu further drew the court's attention to the fact that another counsel in the case had filed additional submissions in respect of the appeal.
Mr K.N. Adomako Acheampong, one of Yirenkyi's lawyers, opposed the motion filed by the State saying it was a deliberate attempt to frustrate their appeal.
Mr Acheampong said the State had been in court on four occasions but it never complained about the records. According to him it was the state that tendered all documents before the lower court.
"The charges, brief facts presented and the exhibits tendered were all done by the state. This is a deliberate attempt to ensure the continuous incarceration of my client."
In a Notice of Appeal before the Accra High Court, Yirenkyi is praying the court to quash the decision of the Circuit Court because his conviction and sentence were against the weight of evidence. According to Yirenkyi, the trial judge, Mr Georgina Mensah Datsa convicted and sentenced the accused without taking into consideration the evidence given by two prosecution witnesses 96 Assistant Commissioner of Police Dr Samuel Amo-Mensah, an obstetrician and gynaecologist at the Police Hospital, and a Police officer stationed at Akropong.
According to the appellant the evidence of the two witnesses raised doubts in the case of the prosecution. The appellant also contended that the trial judge failed to advert her mind on the 93sheer implausibility of the evidence, especially that of the victim and her mother". On January 20 this year, the Circuit Court sentenced Yirenkyi to 10 years' imprisonment each on two counts of incest and defilement after it found him guilty. The sentences are to run concurrently. The prosecution's case was that the victim, born out of wedlock, lived with her mother, Madam Asamaa, until 2005 when she left to live with the convict at McCarthy Hill in Accra to attend school. It said between 2008 and 2009, Yirenkyi started defiling the victim each time he attended church service. In November 2009, the accused asked the victim's mother to talk to her because she was misbehaving.
It was during the interaction with her mother that she revealed her ordeal indicating that Yirenkyi had sex with her on Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays and used a white handkerchief to wipe his sperm. The victim was initially examined by a medical doctor and later transferred to the Police Hospital for treatment.
