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The Magistrate of the Akyem Oda District Court, Mr Kwasi Appiatse Abaidoo, has cautioned the public against posing as next of kin in order to collect the benefits of their deceased relatives from the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT). Mr Abaidoo warned that the courts would deal drastically with anybody arraigned for committing that crime, to serve as a deterrent to others. Mr Abaidoo gave the caution last Monday when two farmers from Akyem Asuboa in the Eastern Region were arraigned for attempting to claim the benefits of their deceased relative, Godfred Bernard Adu, without the knowledge of his son, who is the next of kin. Guilty The suspects, Francis Kwasi Adu, 66, and Edward Yaw Bempong, 65, pleaded guilty to the offence and pleaded for mitigation of sentence. Mr Abaidoo made the two accused persons sign a bond to be of good behaviour for one year, failure of which they would serve four months� imprisonment each. He said he would have jailed them but for their ages. He gave the ruling after the uncle of the next of kin, Mr Kwadwo Asamoah Mensah, who is the Aseneye Abusuapanin of Assin Ngyeresi in the Central Region, had applied to settle the case out of court to promote peace between the two parties in the case. Facts The facts of the case as presented by SSNIT�s prosecutor, Mr Christian Ofoe, were that in August 2013, Kwasi Adu and Yaw Bempong went to the Oda branch office of SSNIT and said their relative, Mr Godfred Bernard Adu, a former employee of the Ghana Cocoa Board, was dead and, therefore, applied to claim his benefits. He said the two accused persons claimed that Adu neither had a wife nor children. Mr Ofoe also said the Oda Branch Manager of SSNIT, Mr James Amon Kotey, and his investigator, Mr Kennedy Ayeh Nyinaku, became suspicious of the two accused persons and upon a tip-off, travelled to Assin Ngyeresi on July 9, 2014, to find out if the information they had received that Mr Adu had a son in the village was true. He added that after the SSNIT officials had held discussions with the late Adu�s former wife and the son, they invited them to the Oda office of SSNIT on August 7, 2014 to meet the two suspects. Mr Ofoe said on the appointed day, when suspects Kwasi Adu and Bempong came face-to-face with the deceased�s son at the SSNIT office at a meeting with the branch manager and investigator, they became apprehensive, pleaded for forgiveness and swore not to commit such a crime again. Mr Kotey reported the matter to the Oda Police and the two were arrested and later prosecuted.