Gambian Defrauds Sda Church

Mohammed al Amin

One of the local branches of the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Church has been defrauded by a 28-year-old Gambian Muslim who claimed he has denounced his Muslim faith.

Mohammed al Amin Fatty, also known as Yashin Hassan, claims he is a young Christian convert who has been disowned by his father, a Muslim Cleric, for denouncing the Muslim faith, a situation that made life rather difficult for him in his country so he had to sojourn in Ghana.

The Director of the Vetting and Crime Analysis (VCA) unit at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Chief/Supt. Denis Abade, told DAILY GUIDE that on April 13, 2011, his outfit received a complaint from the SDA Headquarters in Accra that the suspect approached the church somewhere in November 2010 that his father, who is a Mallam, had threatened to kill him because he converted to Christianity.

Following this narration, a number of pastors gave him financial support, only to find out later that Mohammed's claims were false.

He was then arrested to assist police in their investigations.

Mohammed, in his caution statement, admitted to the offence, stating that he had used fictitious stories to gain monetary favours from the church. He said he used some of the money to rent hotels.

Investigations have revealed that the suspect has on separate occasions been arrested by the VCA unit as well as the Odorkor District Police for similar offence and was even handed a six-month jail sentence by an Accra circuit court.

After serving his jail term, the suspect continued his old trade.

By Rocklyn Antonio