The court jailed Alex after it found him guilty of setting ablaze the residence of his fiancée, Mary Osei Owusu, with combustible liquid. Georgina Mensah, Perpetual Sarfo Owusu and Mary Osei Owusu aka Nana Ama are other tenants whose personal effects, valued at GH¢28,260, got destroyed by the fire.
The convict, who lives at the army barracks at Bantama in Kumasi, pleaded guilty to four charges of causing unlawful damage to property preferred against him. Prosecuting, Chief Inspector C. K. Fosu said the complainant, a farmer, owns a house at the Asokwa Pink Panther area with a four-bedroom quarters attached to the main house.
He said on April 9, 2011, a misunderstanding ensued between the convict and his fiancée who rents one of the rooms in the quarters when he accused her of stealing GH¢1,200 he kept in her room.
Mary Osei, who had earlier shocked the convict after declaring her intention to discontinue her relationship with him, denied the allegation. Chief inspector Fosu told the court that on April 12, 2011, at about 1:20pm, the parents of the convict called Mary and Alex to their residence at Tech, a suburb of Kumasi, to settle the impasse between them.
The prosecutor disclosed that after the settlement of the issue, the convict stole the key to Mary’s room and at about 2:30pm the same day, he was seen in Mary’s residence by two tenants. Chief Inspector Fosu said the convict entered the house with an Agya Appiah Alcoholic drink bottle containing some liquid.
According to the prosecutor, the tenants saw the convict opening Mary’s door and entering with the bottle. The tenants saw him coming out after about five minutes, after which he left the house.
Soon after Alex had entered the room, one of the tenants saw smoke billowing from the room and called for help but the four-bedroom quarters and personal effects were razed down before the fire service personnel and some neighbours could bring the fire under control.
The prosecutor told the court that the fire fighters later arrested the convict and handed him over to the police who charged him with the offence.
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