An Adentan Circuit Court has fined a 46-year-old pastor GH¢6,000 for unlawfully discharging his licensed pump action shotgun without justification.
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Sarfo told the court that he had not intended to fire his gun.
The court presided over by Mrs Sedinam Awo Balokah, ruled that if he did not pay the fine, he would be imprisoned for 12 months.
Sarfo was also ordered to sign a bond to be of good behaviour for 24 months or spend two years in prison.
The Adentan Police Command will keep Sarfo’s gun for a year and will hand it back to him on September 8, 2024, the court also decided.
Chief Inspector Maxwell Lanyo, who is in charge of the prosecution, claimed that while Sarfo is a preacher and a landlord who owns a building in Agbogba, Accra, where he and the complainant resided with other tenants, the complainant is a banker.
Chief Inspector Lanyo claims that Sarfo rented the complainant an apartment for a year roughly eight months ago.
The complainant made many attempts to obtain a copy of the tenancy agreement after paying his rent.
The complainant went to Agbogba Police Station on May 4, 2023, and said that Sarfo had threatened him via phone, saying “he should not come home that day, and if he does go home, that will be his final day on earth” if he did.
According to the defense, the police gave the complainant “an extract of the occurrence to be sent to Adenta Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit for investigations.”
According to the report, the complainant told the police that Sarfo had a history of frightening his renters with a pistol whenever he had a disagreement with them during the course of the investigation.
To intimidate them, he (Sarfo) even resorts to shooting firearms under the guise of issuing warning shots.
According to the prosecution, Sarfo’s door remained unanswered when the police repeatedly knocked on it on May 17 at around 2000 hours.
In order to confirm the veracity of the complainant’s accusations that Sarfo had been firing gunshots whenever he had a disagreement with any of his tenants, the police, according to the prosecutor, took advantage of the chance to question some of his renters.
Tenants, according to the prosecution, have corroborated the claim and are prepared to provide testimony.
On May 18, 2023, around 1000 hours, Sarfo reported to the police at Adentan DOVVSU with his pump action gun bearing the serial number TO72894 loaded with BB cartridges.
The police took Sarfo’s gun and issued him a warning, according to the testimony given in court.
According to the prosecution, Sarfo claimed in his caution statement that he had never threatened to kill the complainant, but he did admit that earlier that day, following an argument with the complainant over his lease agreement, he had fired three shots with his gun.
The prosecution testified in court that the complainant went to the police station with a “written threat message that the Sarfo had pasted on his door” while inquiries were being conducted. The accused acknowledged posting it there in his caution statement.
