78-Year-Old Woman Jailed

Madam Serwaa Akoto, a 78-year-old fishmonger at Saltpond in the Mfanstiman West Municipality, has been jailed by the Cape Coast High Court Four to three months� imprisonment for contempt of court. The case was presided over by Justice Victor Ayimey. Briefing Daily Guide on Tuesday, a family member who spoke on condition of anonymity stated that one Ekua Amissah sued Madam Akoto in 1990 over a piece of land at Saltpond District Court, claiming damages for trespassing. The family member said the case went on for some time and was later transferred to the Abura Dunkwa District Court, bearing the same suit number CS 290/99. She further said in 2001, Madam Akoto�s lawyer sought permission from the court to be ordained as a reverend minister, a situation which made the court abandon the case since the plaintiff never went to the court. The source hinted that in August 2008, Ekua Amissah dragged Madam Akoto to the Cape Coast High Court and prayed for an order for contempt of court by way of interfering with justice in respect of the case entitled Ekua Amissah vs. Kofi Son and Serwaa Akoto, which suit was pending at Abura Dunkwa. The source said during cross examination, Madam Akoto denied ever interfering in the administration of justice since Ekua Amissah alleged that she had released a portion of the litigated land to a woman to smoke fish on. Justice Victor Ayimey ordered for evidence to be taken by Ekua Amissah and her witness, Gifty Sosi, her younger sister. �I�m the younger sister of Ekua but I don�t know the one who gave the land to the squatters,� she said. Sources say although Madam Akoto�s sister has settled on the land, she never put her there, a situation which made the judge convict Madam Akoto of contempt on January 15, 2010. Information gathered by Daily Guide indicates the court ruled that �although Akoto had not disobeyed any specific order of the court since she has knowledge of the writ pending before the court and had alienated portion of the land although the court had not given judgment on the land, she has undermined the court. She has taken over the judicial power given to the judiciary only and was therefore found liable and convicted on contempt of court�. She was therefore sentenced to three months� imprisonment and asked to pay GH �2,000 as compensation to Ekua Amissah. Meanwhile, Madam Akoto�s lawyer has applied for bail but the judge is yet to rule on the application, pending appeal on March 15.