Adentan, Ghana – Two men, Prince Kyei Bennett and Samuel Nutsugah, have been sentenced to 10 years in prison each in absentia for defrauding a Kumasi-based businessman, Eric Coffie, of GH¢1,700,000. The two were found guilty of conspiracy and defrauding by false pretenses after their trial at the Adentan Circuit Court, which took place in their absence.
The court, presided over by Mrs. Sedinam Awo Kwadam, convicted the pair after they stopped attending their court hearings. Bennett, 48, a businessman from Adjen Kotoku, and Nutsugah, 58, an unemployed man from Kumasi, both pleaded not guilty to the charges. Despite their absence, the prosecution, led by Chief Inspector Maxwell Lanyo, presented evidence and witnesses to prove their involvement in the scam.
The fraudulent scheme began in April 2017, when Nutsugah approached Coffie and promised to sell him a bottle of schnapps containing mercury, claiming it would grant the buyer significant wealth through spiritual rituals. He introduced Bennett as his business partner, and the pair convinced Coffie that the mercury in the bottle needed spiritual cleansing in order to reach its full potential.
Nutsugah further promised that if Coffie assisted with the rituals, he would be rewarded with $5 million and a four-bedroom house. The pair succeeded in extracting a total of GH¢1,700,000 from Coffie for various expenses related to the supposed rituals, which included the purchase of a white dove, black-and-white rams, and other items.
At one point, Bennett and Nutsugah claimed to have sold the bottle to a spiritualist and showed Coffie a bag of money, telling him the money needed purification before it could be used. They persuaded him to take the bag to a guest house for the necessary rituals. However, after Coffie provided the requested items, the fraudsters failed to perform the rituals, claiming that the dove provided was painted.
The situation became suspicious when Coffie was unable to continue the purification process. He took the bag of money to the hotel, where the police were alerted and intervened. Upon inspection, the bag contained only sawdust, not money. Bennett admitted to taking GH¢800,000 from Coffie, while Nutsugah claimed not to remember how much he had taken.
The court sentenced both men to five years for conspiracy and 10 years each for defrauding Coffie by false pretenses, with sentences to run concurrently. Authorities are still searching for the convicted fraudsters, who are believed to have fled.