A STATE prosecutor created an interesting spectacle in court when he brought in a quantity of dead rats into the courtroom as evidence to back the prosecution of some nine persons.
They had been arrested for allegedly setting fire to a farm whiles hunting for rats and other rodents.
He told the Tamale district magistrate court, presided over by His Worship Gabriel Mate-Teye, that the rats, contained in a PP mesh (fertilizer) bag, were the catch of the group and that they were seized by the police during the arrest and preserved in a fridge.
Other items seized from the group, which includes 16 bicycles and a motorbike, were also brought to court as more exhibits.
The judge sentenced two of the suspects – Osman Adam, 18, student and Latif Osman, 20, farmer – to two weeks imprisonment after they pleaded guilty to the charge of negligently causing unlawful damage contrary to section 12 and 172 of Act 29/30 of the Criminal Code.
The two are also to pay the cost of the damage that was caused to the farm, failure of which would further attract a one-month jail sentence.
He again ruled that the bicycles and motorbike be given to community volunteers who are helping the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to implement the Ghana Environmental Management Project (GEMP).
The judge however let out some comic relief when he asked the observers in the court what should be done to the rats.
The case of another suspect, Adam Fuseini, 20, an electrician, who pleaded not guilty, was adjourned to Friday, March 25, after he was granted surety of GH¢200.
Earlier on Wednesday, March 16, the other six suspects, who were identified as juveniles, appeared before the juvenile court and they were found guilty.
Consequently, the court bonded them for a period of two years to be of good behaviour and avoid partaking in any activity that is harmful to the environment.
The prosecutor, Insp. Johnson Cheremeh said the nine persons, who were among a group of hunters, were arrested by the Police Mobile Task Force on the evening of Saturday January 22nd, 2011, following an urgent report made to the police by the EPA.
He said the group had set fire to farms and bushes in Nyamalga, a farming community in the East Gonja district.
Insp. Cheremeh mentioned that the group went on the hunting expedition with motorbikes and bicycles and were desperate to catch some bush animals.
He said in the process, the group set fire to a 36-acre cowpea farm, because a rodent they were pursuing had supposedly run into the nearby farm.
The case involving the nine persons opened in court last Monday, March 14, 2011, but the magistrate requested that a separate charge sheet be prepared, since six of the suspects were identified as juveniles.
Meanwhile, Mr Mate-Teye has cautioned all persons who engage in bush burning to avoid the practice or be made to face the music.
He said the court would remain resolute in ensuring that no one gets away with it after causing damage to the environment, which, he noted, was humans’ source of livelihood.
Mr Mate-Teye was full of praise for officials of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for pursuing the matter, in spite of pressure from various influential persons for the case to be dropped.
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