Three Holy Apostolic Reformed Church (HARC) bishops have been convicted of contempt.
The trio are Apostle Samuel Anang Sowah, Bishop Abraham Adjei and Bishop Daniel Buernor Tokoli.
They were convicted and sentenced to five days imprisonment by an Accra High Court presided by Justice William Boampong.
Earlier, they were found guilty of contempt but were cautioned and discharged.
However, they were found guilty of further contempt after disobeying the court’s directive and entering a church premises despite an ongoing case against them.
According to the applicants who are registered trustees of the church, despite the previous conviction and the pending interlocutory injunction, the defendants entered the chapels in Nungua and Tema on October 29, 2023.
They, therefore, prayed the court to hold the bishops for further contempt for defying the orders of the court.
In their defence, the dissatisfied bishops said they had filed an appeal and applied for a suspension of the court’s orders, which has been granted.
They further argued that logically, once the interlocutory injunction had been suspended, nothing barred them from entering and using the church premises.
However, the trial judge held that since the defendants were prohibited from using the chapels, they need not rely on any consequential orders of the court to comply with the said directive.
“The very ruling in this present case however had not been appealed against and no suspension of the order in this Suit No. GJ/1054/2022 has been obtained.
“In this very suit, also the respondents had not denied that they had not done what the earlier ruling in this suit prohibited them from doing,” the judge explained.
The trial judge, therefore, found the three to be in further contempt of court.
The court also awarded a cost of GH¢1,000 against each of them.