Painter grabbed over $40k fraud

The Circuit Court has granted bail to a 36-year-old painter, Michael Ansah, after he pleaded not guilty to a charge of defrauding by false pretense amounting to a tune of USD$ 40,500.00.

The Court presided over by Mr. Oheneba Kuffour admitted Ansah to bail in the sum of GHC 500,000 with three sureties, two to be justified with movable or unmovable property with title deeds.

Narrating the facts to the court, Inspector Wisdom Ahorwu said the complainant, Quacy Freeman is a Trader and resident of Kwabenya while accused, Michael Ansah alias Paa is a Painter residing at Ogbojo, Accra.

Within the month of November 2022, the accused person went to the shop of the complainant with pictures of a certain Mercedes Benz GLE and deceived him that, he had bought the said vehicle and was using same in the United States of America for some time.

Accused further produced a certain documents to support his entitlement to the vehicle. Based on this, the accused person told the complainant to pay a total sum of US$40,500.00 for him to ship the said vehicle for him.

The accused person thereafter introduced one Fred to the complainant as the one who is keeping the vehicle in safe custody for him and the person who is responsible for shipping the said vehicle. The accused person demanded and collected a total sum of USS40,500.00 equivalent to GH¢415,000.00 from the complainant and promised to deliver the vehicle within one (1) month but failed and started giving flimsy excuses to the complainant.

Inspector Ahorwu said on 05/6/2022, the complainant reported the case to Police which the police arrested the accused on the next day at Kwabenya. In the course of his arrest, the accused entered a fierce struggle with the Police after he was told of his offense and he managed to escape. After running away, the accused person went to hide in a boutique at Abuom, a suburb of Kwabenya.

He was traced to the boutique where he was arrested. In the boutique, the accused entered another struggle with the Police which lasted for about one hour before he was eventually overpowered and arrested with the help of a reinforcement team.

During investigation, the accused person admitted the offences in his caution statement and stated that, he was unable to ship the said vehicle because it was a vehicle they stole from a White person in the USA. The accused person pleaded to be given up to two (2) weeks to refund the money but failed.

He was charged with the offence and was directed by police to appear before court on 7/7/2023 but he refused to attend court and changed his place of abode.
The court has adjourned the case to 25th September,2023