My Son Smokes Indian Hemp

...father tells Court

THERE WAS drama at the Nkawkaw Community Tribunal when a father of an accused person openly told the tribunal that his son, Iddrisu Salifu, who has been charged with threatening to kill his parents, Iddrisu Adenli and Adisa Musah, both farmers at Atibie Amanfrom, near Nkawkaw in the Eastern Region, that the son smokes Indian hemp, he is vagabond and a thief.

It all started when the tribunal chairman, Mr. William Boampong, asked the father of the accused to brief him on the ordeal he and the wife went through at the hands of their own son.

The prosecutor, Chief Inspector Samuel Asare told the tribunal that in January, this year, Salifu stole a goat belonging to one Ibrahim, also of Atibie Amanfrom and fled the village.

He said Ibrahim complained to Salifu's parents so when he later returned to the village, the parents confronted him and he admitted stealing the animal and selling it for ?40,000, but refused to mention the buyer.

The prosecutor said Salifu became offended by the insistence of his parents to tell them the buyer of the stolen goat, so on 23rd of last month, early in the morning when his parents were in bed, he accused forced their door open with a sharp cutlass and attempted to slash them with it, but they managed to escape.

Chief Inspector Asare said the accused chased his parents with the cutlass, got hold of his mother, but her desperate cry for help attracted some residents who rescued her from her son, who was about to butcher her.

The accused escaped into the bush but was arrested later by the inhabitants of the town who handed him over to the police.