Husband Writes To Commend Christian Council Over �Rapist� Pastor�s Dismissal

I write on behalf of myself and my wife to congratulate the Christian Council of Ghana for being swift in dismissing from their fold, one James Nahyi, who was until recently, a member of the Tamale branch office of your noble institution. While the sanction would not compensate us as a family, it would go a long way to soothe the psychological and emotional trauma my family had experienced over the past years. When the issue came to the limelight, some media houses took advantage, and I granted radio interviews. In the course of interviews, I might have gone overboard, and I would like to render a solemn apology to Christian Council of Ghana for something I would have said. I would like to thank a number of radio stations who showed concerns especially The Chronicle Newspaper. For some of you who maybe first timers as far as our sordid experience is concerned, this is how the episode unfolded: �In the year 2010, my wife and our two children paid a visit to her twin sister in Tamale. During their stay in Tamale my wife and my children, though spent the day in the twin sister�s house, every evening they had to commute to Tamale Zongo, where their family house is, to pass the night. One day on their way, in the company of her twin sister, they met one James Nahyi, who they knew during their school days, and stayed closer to where my wife�s twin sister and the husband lived. The said James Nahyi offered and gave them a lift to their destination. This assistance frequently continued at times when James Nahyi, who is a senior �pastor� with the Christian Council of Ghana, Tamale, met them on their way home. On one of these occasions, my wife after reaching their destination recollected that she had forgotten to pick the children�s breakfast for the next morning. My wife said that no sooner had she said that than the said James Nahyi asked her to live the children, one of whom was already asleep, with a neighbor in the house for him to quickly send her back for it. She said after picking the items at the sister�s place, Mr. James Nahyi, who knows me as the husband, said that he had to pick a document in his house along the way for some work to be done in the office since he will be travelling early the next morning. Upon reaching his house my wife said he asked her to make herself comfortable in a chair whilst he looks for the said document. My wife sensing no danger, said immediately she entered into the room, said James pounced on her to forcefully have sexual intercourse with her. She said a fierce struggle ensued for some time; she employed every effort at her disposal to escape but Mr. James Nahyi pushed her on the ground, cruelly muzzled her, almost suffocated her to overpower her and then raped her in a gruesome manner. She said she felt seriously traumatized but felt ashamed to tell anybody at that time. However, she said a high blood pressure she got as a result of that ordeal kept on worsening her health condition whenever she remembers it after four years of her experience. She therefore gathered courage to inform me about the ordeal after several abortive attempts to do that previously. After hearing this news, amidst devastation and shock, I decided to travel to the Police at Tamale to lodge a former complaint at the Police Station. Upon my arrival at the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit of the Ghana Police service Tamale, an officer of the outfit�s advice concerning the weakness of the case due to the unavailability of evidence at the time, particularly a medical report, discouraged me to lodge the complaint. In my quest to seek redress, I summoned the said James Nahyi to the Tamale Chief�s (Dakpema) palace on Friday, 30th January, 2015, where James Nahyi admitted the crime/offence and pleaded for forgiveness, sighting the long absence of his wife from him as the driving force that precipitated the commitment of the offence. According to him, my wife was once his girl friend, a story my wife had vehemently denied calling it, an outrageous slander borne by after taught. He was accordingly pronounced guilty and was ordered to pacify the gods of the land with one goat, two bottles of schnapps and a fowl, among others, for the rituals. Whilst no compensation was giving to neither my wife nor I and disappointingly licking our wounds, this remorseless James Nahyi added more pains to us by sending text messages to me some of which read: �I pity you�. :�forgive yourself for pushing your wife in my hands�.�. �.I believe when you see your wife, or hears my name your heartbeat goes up.� �It�s my prayer you one day stop hurting yourself�. This was the fate of my family in the hands of this �beast�. Blaming someone for raping his wife is something unheard of and would easily send nightmarish emotions to a victim. This pushed me to seek redress from the religious body. My commendation to the Christian Council of Ghana is borne out of the fact that, once he is sacked from the fold of the Christian institution; his re-engagement to any other institution would suffer a setback due to his cruel past or expose him to thorough investigations. And for any other institutions who would be tempted to engage him, it is better his awful imprints is made known before it is too late. In fact, justice would be partially served according to my estimation because this man would also be chased by his evil past, and also encounter similar psychological nightmares, when his nefarious actions are made public through publications. I am not sounding vindictive but I want him to pay for his crime and actions if not legal at the moment, and also enable him repent from his evil ways, especially as someone who was working at a religious institution. Maybe in his quest for a new job, he would be interrogated about his past, and he would also encounter similar horrendous emotions. I rest my case as this stage but would continue to pursue the legal aspect of the case in due time. Thank you. Kofi Yeboah