Daniel Okai Quaye, a priest of a shrine, on Monday appeared before an Accra circuit tribunal charged with stealing a car he claimed he would be able to protect from evil spirits.
The prosecution said Quaye asked the owner to deposit the car at his shrine for 21 days for some rituals to be performed on it but he stole it. Quaye, who pleaded not guilty, was granted 10 million cedis bail with one surety to reappear on February 6.
The tribunal, chaired by Mr Ziblim Moru ordered Quaye to report to the Pokuase Police every Monday.
According to the prosecution, the complainant, Mr Amos Abbey Quaye, is a retired civil servant who used a portion of his retirement benefits to buy a second-hand Datsun at five million cedis.
In February 1996,the accused asked the driver of the car to inform his master to see him at his shrine. When Mr Abbey Quaye went, he told him that his gods had revealed that some evil spirits were driving his car in the night and it would be involved in an accident.
He therefore advised Mr Abbey Quaye to deposit the car at the shrine for 21 days to enable him perform some rituals on it. Mr Abbey Quaye scared by the revelation, obliged.
The prosecution said a few days after, Mr Abbey Quaye became sick and was sent to a village in the Western Region for treatment for about three years.
On his return to Accra, he went to the accused person's shrine at Korle Gonno to collect his taxi but to his dismay Quaye had left the place.
When Quaye was later traced to Akraman village near Amasaman, he said the car was stolen when thieves invaded his shrine.
