Pastor inflicts wounds on daughter’s boyfriend

REVEREND Amanoo Asante's patience ran out at midnight last Tuesday when he caught his daughter and her lover in bed.

Rev. Asante, who is the leader of the Ejisu branch of the New Testament Assemblies Church, allegedly inflicted machete wounds on Kwaku Smith, the 29-year-old lover of Rev. Asante's daughter, when he pounced on him in the bedroom of his daughter, Patricia Asante.

Chief Inspector A. K Danquah, who said Rev. Asante, narrated details of the encounter at the circuit court at Ejisu last Wednesday lived in the same vicinity with Smith, who befriended Patricia.

He said Smith and the pastor's daughter had a very good relationship. However, when the pastor questioned them, they denied being together.

He related that Rev. Asante mounted surveillance on the two and on that fateful Tuesday, April 4, at about 1 am, he sensed that Smith was sleeping in Patricia's room.

The prosecutor said the accused went to knock at the daughter's door but she did not respond.

The minister then went to the kitchen and fetched a machete, with which he forcibly opened his daughter's door.

He added that just as the accused forced the door open, the complainant sensing danger attempted to escape from the room but came face to face with the accused at the door way.

The accused, in an angry mood, allegedly slashed the complainant twice on the head and once the right cheek, while the complainant pleaded with him to let him go.

The prosecutor said Smith managed to snatch the machete from the accused and, with blood all over his body, he rushed to the Ejisu Police Station to lodge a complaint.

The complainant was rushed to the Juaben Government Hospital and later transferred to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital for further treatment.

According to the prosecutor, after the incident, the accused collected personal belongings of the complainant, which he had brought to the girlfriend's room and set them ablaze.

After the complaint had been made, the police picked the accused for interrogation and he was subsequently arraigned.

Counsel for the accused person pleaded with the court for bail but the court, presided over by Justice Adutwum Mmorosah, remanded him in police custody for a week to reappear on April 12 to enable the Police conduct further investigations into the case.

The Police said Rev. Asante's act followed his disapproval of the amorous relationship between his daughter and Smith.

A large crowd from Ejisu, including members of the New Testament Assemblies Church, besieged the court premises.

Some church members, in solidarity with their minister, threatened to assault this reporter if anything was published about the case and even attempted to snatch the reporter's digital camera. It was only the timely intervention of a police escort that enabled this reporter to flee the scene to safety.