Caretaker jailed for rent fraud

Raphael Nii Otu, a 28-year-old caretaker, has been jailed by the Adentan Circuit Court for renting out his employer’s apartment to two persons.

The court presided over by Sedinam Awo Kwadam, sentenced Otu to two years for defrauding Paul Thomas of GH¢11,400.

On the second charge of defrauding by false pretenses, Otu was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment.

He is said to have taken GH¢3,600 from the second complainant, Joseph Mensah, a sprayer, after promising to rent the same apartment to him.

The sentences are to run consecutively, meaning he would be serving three years in total.

Otu pleaded guilty with an explanation to two counts of defrauding by false pretenses.

The court, after listening to his explanation, sentenced Otu.

The prosecution, led by Inspector Ishmael Dewornu, told the court that the first complainant, Paul Thomas, was an engineer residing in Accra, and the second complainant, Joseph Mensah, a sprayer residing at Salem Estate.

According to the prosecution, Otu resided at Salem Estates.

In June 2024, Otu, a caretaker in the house of one Georgina Fenny, contacted both complainants who were in need of rooms to rent.

The prosecution stated that Otu told the complainants that the owner of the house where he lived urgently needed money, so she had asked him to rent her two-bedroom house located at Salem Estate for two years.

Thomas and Mensah became interested, the prosecution said.

The court heard that Thomas parted with GH¢11,400, while Mensah made an initial payment of GH¢3,600 for two years.

However, after taking the money, Otu informed the complainants that the owner of the house was no longer renting out the rooms and that she had changed her mind.

The prosecution revealed that investigations showed that the owner of the house had never contracted Otu to rent out the house on her behalf.

Otu had failed to refund the money; hence, a report was made to the police, and he was arrested.