Policeman jailed 7 years over his inability to repay ¢5k loan

A former Policeman is currently serving a seven-year jail term for failing to repay a loan of ¢5,000 he contracted.

According to him, he took the loan from a lady who lived in the same house with him in May 2019 to support his wife who was then unemployed so that she could also support the family.

Lucas says he did not go to the bank because he had already taken a loan from the bank and did not qualify for another at the time.

He said the agreement with the lady he took the loan from was that he was going to be paying ¢500 each month until he finishes paying because luckily for him, the loan did not come with interest.

However, along the line, he had to leave work for two weeks and therefore travelled to his village to work on his cocoa farm.

A distraught convict who spoke to Crime Check Television monitored by MyNewsGh.com, said while he was there, the lady called to complain that he had bolted just because he doesn’t want to pay back the money he borrowed. Although Lucas assured her that he had not bolted and that he will pay the money for that particular month, the lady who got infuriated hanged up the call.

He said he was later contacted by an official of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) who said he was needed at the station.

Sensing the impending danger, the convict said he left the village for his station only to be greeted by the presence of five Policemen who marched him to the police station and got him locked up.

He was rushed to the Court subsequently charged with fraud although he only took a loan which he was working assiduously to repay.

He said while in court, the Police read a statement that was purportedly from him but he denied knowledge of the statement because it was not coming from him and he was not allowed to write a statement by the CID officer who was handling the case.

Although Lucas accepted that he was guilty, he offered to explain the circumstances that brought him there but the Judge was not ready to listen to him and remanded him for one week.

“So when I came, I got to my house and the place was surrounded by five Policemen. My wife took my bag and I joined them at the station. When we got to the station I was not allowed to write my statement. I was rushed for the court because the CID said the Judge had to travel. When we got to the court, the statement that was read to me purported to have come from me was shocking because I did not write any statement. The Judge then asked me if I was guilty and I said yes but I could explain. But I was not allowed to explain and was sent on remand.”

On his next appearance in Court, the Judge did not allow him to explain and went along with the statement provided by the Police to convict Lucas to seven years in prison.

“They came to take me on a Friday back to the court. At the court on the day, I was sentenced to seven years in prison. Although I raised my hands to be heard and explain what exactly happened, I was not given a listening ear by the Judge. So I asked the CID when I was being processed for the Prison that did I have an option of paying the loan so that I will be freed, the CID told me that no and that if I come back, the woman also has the option of even calling for my arrest again.”

“The Police are not good people and because of greed, they will do anything to get money. I’ve known this system for a very long time, but I was quiet about it because if you complain, you may lose your job. This is because it will be said that you’ve revealed the secret of the police. The Police will take money from complainants and ensure that victims are incarcerated at all cost and that is a bad thing,” he said while revealing how bad the Police can be.

Lucas has been at the Kumasi Central prisons for seven months but believes that the system failed him. To him, it has been a shocking experience because he never thought taking a loan will lead him to be arrested and convicted.