Teacher remanded for extortion

Anthony Sam, a 54-year old teacher was on Friday remanded by a Cape Coast Circuit Court for extorting moneys from two parents under the pretext of helping their wards to gain admission to Mfantsipim School.

The accused who took one million cedis cheque each from Ms. Pearl Tamakloe and Mr. Edward Ayisi-Addo, pleaded not guilty and would re-appear on Friday, October 19.

The court presided over by Mr. Tom Bentil, heard that on September 21, this year, Sam introduced himself to the victims as a cousin of Mr. Crosby Ashun, headmaster of Mfantsipim and offered to assist their wards to gain admission to the school.

The victims allegedly gave bankers drafts of one million cedis each to Sam for the headmaster to cover the school fees of the children.

Sam later told the two parents that the headmaster "had accepted everything" and gave each of them prospectus he took from Mr. Crosby.

In addition, Sam requested one million cedis from the victims to be given to Mr. Crosby for his efforts. They readily gave him 500,000 cedis each for the headmaster and 140,000 cedis to cover his transportation.

On Friday October 5, Ms. Tamakloe and Mr. Ayisi-Addo invited Sam to accompany them to Cape Coast to check on the admissions of their wards. Sam could not make the trip to Cape Coast, instead he gave them a letter to the headmaster, asking him to give them the receipts covering the bankers' drafts he gave to him.

The victims went to the headmaster, who denied knowing Sam. When the accused (Sam) was brought before the headmaster, he confessed that he did not know Mr. Ashun.

Sam was handed over to the police who were able to retrieve the banker's drafts and the 1,140,000 cedis.