Law books pirate fined

A Kumasi Circuit Court has sentenced a 39-year-old trader to a fine of GHC90,000 for the reproduction of literal works of some judges and lawyers without lawful authority.

Inusah Haruna was sentenced to pay the fine after he changed his initial plea of not guilty to guilty.

He was charged with 15 counts of reproducing law textbooks and selling them to the public without express permission.

He was ordered by the court, presided over by her Honour Ellen Amoah, to pay GHC6,000 for each count or in default serve a two-year jail term.

The court also ordered that the pirated books be given to the police for use.

Haruna was arrested on January 5, 2018 at the campus of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KUNST) in Kumasi, where he printed and sold pirated law books to some students at low cost.

He was granted bail in the initial stages of the trial, but could not meet the bail terms – three sureties, two of whom should be government workers earning a monthly salary of GHC1,500.

The prosecutor, ASP Jari, told the court that the complainants in the case are Justice Dennis Dominic Adjei, Justice S.A. Brobbey and Justice Solomon Kwami Tetteh, all of the superior court of Ghana.

According to him, on November 22, 2017, the complainants reported to the Manhyia Divisional Police Command that an unknown person at KNUST campus and without their express permission was reproducing their law textbooks and selling them to the public.

The complainants said the law books were “Modern Approach to the Law of Interpretation in Ghana authored by Justice Dominic Dennis Adjei, Land Law Practices and Conveyance in Ghana by Justice Kwami Tetteh; Civil Procedure – A practical Approach and Practice by Justice Kwami Tetteh and Procedure in the Trial Court and Tribunal of Ghana vol.2 by Justice S.A Brobbey”.

On January 5, 2018 at about 9:30 am, ASP Jari said police intelligence led to the arrest of the accused person at the Republic Hall of KNUST.

A search conducted at the accused person’s workplace revealed several photocopies of law textbooks.

The prosecutor asserted that the two books on Labour Laws authored by Justice James Odartey Mills, four books on Jurisprudence and legal philosophy by Justice Stephen Offei, three books on Modern Principles of Equity by Justice A.K.P Kludze, one book on Modern Purposive Approach to Interpretation in Ghana by Justice John Kobina Eddie and one book on Essentials of the Ghana Law of Evidence by Justice S.A. Brobbey were also found.

The rest were Law of Chieftaincy in Ghana by Justice S.A Brobbey, two books on Land Law Practice and Conveyance in Ghana by Justice Dennis Dominic Adjei, one book on the law of interpretation in Ghana by Justice Bimpong Buta, a book on Civil Procedure by Justice Kwami Tetteh, three books on Criminal Procedure in Ghana by Justice A.N.E Amissah.

He noted that three books on annotated criminal and other offences by Justice Henrietta Mensah Bonsu, three books on Ghana law of evidence by Justice Ofori Boateng, four books on Law of taxation in Ghana by Dr Benjamin Kumbour, one book on the lawyer’s companion, among others, were found in his possession.

Two canon photocopier machines, a set of computer and a 160GB hard drive that were being used by the convict to pirate the books were also seized by the police.

The prosecutor disclosed that Inusah Haruna, in the course of police interrogations, mentioned someone as an accomplice, but he failed to take the police to the location of the supposed accomplice.

After thorough investigations by a police detective, Frank Osae Otchere, Haruna was charged and arraigned thereof.