Three unemployed young men have been granted a bail of GH₵20,000 with one surety each by an Accra Circuit Court for allegedly engaging in illegal power connection.
Ismail Fahad, 18, Mawuli Oscar, 22, and Moses Teye, 18, were hauled before the court after they were caught using power in their chamber and hall apartment at Abavana Down, a suburb of Accra which did not pass through the electric metre in the house.
They have been charged with stealing, conspiracy of threat of harm, conspiracy to intentionally interfer or knowingly allowing interference with the supplier’s distribution system, meters, or any equipment and threat of harm.
Ismail Fahad is facing an additional charge of assault. The accused persons pleaded not guilty to all the charges and the court, presided over by His Honour Bright Samuel Acquah, granted them bail of GH₵20,000 with one surety each who must have a fixed place of abode and fix business within the court’s jurisdiction.
The facts presented by Paul Asibi Abariga, the prosecutor, indicated that the complainant, Emmanuel Acheampong, is a staff of Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the accused persons are friends who live together in a chamber and hall apartment at Abavana Down in Accra.
He told the court that on August 15, 2022, the complainant led a team of ECG technicians to Abavana Down on their normal exercise and visited the accused persons’ apartment for inspection of their electric meter.
The lawyer said the team detected that the power used by the accused persons was not passing through the metre and in the presence of the accused persons, the power was disconnected. He added that the ECG team noted that the accused persons’ air conditioner was still working while their meter was disconnected.
Mr Abariga told the court that whilst the complainant wanted to issue accused persons with summons to report at the ECG office, the accused persons became offended and attacked the ECG team, ordering them to reconnect their power.
The accused, according to the facts, followed the ECG team and seized their tools and threatened to harm the ECG team with the tools in their custody. It indicates that some neighbours intervened and separated them but Ismail Fahad not being satisfied, went ahead to beat the complainant.
The complainant then reported the issue to the Kotobabi Police station and he was issued with a medical form to attend hospital for necessary action to be taken. The accused persons were subsequently arrested on August 17, 2022 and the case was later referred to the ECG investigation team for necessary action.
Mr Abariga told the court that the accused in their respective caution statements admitted the offense and further stated that they entered the apartment about four months ago and have not purchased power credit since.
The case has been adjourned to August 27, 2022, for accused persons to reappear before the court.