Contractor who defrauded Jubilee House security woman fails to show up in court
The Prosecutor in the case in which a contractor has been hauled to court for defrauding a security officer at Jubilee House wants the accused person arrested.
According to Chief Inspector Samuel Ahiabor, the accused person, Kingsford Painstil, has been evading the court after he was granted bail.
The prosecutor’s decision comes after the 45-year-old contractor accused of fraud failed to appear in court on Monday.
“The accused person is not in court. If, on the next adjourned date, the accused fails to come to court, I employ the court to issue a bench warrant for his arrest.
“It is obvious the accused person is simply taking the court for granted,” the prosecutor said.
A bench warrant is an order issued by a judge or law court for the arrest of a person charged with contempt of court, criminal offence or an accused person who fails to turn up for court.
The Circuit Court judge Emmanuel Essandoh, however, pleaded with the prosecution to give the accused person till January 4, 2021.
Background
The 45-year-old contractor was hauled before the Accra Circuit Court for allegedly defrauding a security officer at the Jubilee House.
Kingsford Painstil, made away with GH₵340,000, with a promise of awarding the complainant with a road contract in 2019.
But that promise never saw the light of day.
Facts
The facts of the case presented by Chief Inspector Samuel Ahiabor, is that the complainant in the case is a security officer at Jubilee House whilst the accused Kingsford Painstil is a contractor and resides at Ablekuma.
In May 2019, the accused person met the complainant in her office at Jubilee House and introduced himself as a contractor in charge of government projects.
He told her that he could assist her in acquiring a contract to execute a project that would make her rich. They both exchanged contacts.
“Few days after their meeting, the accused person contacted the complainant and told her that he was currently having a road contract to be awarded and he urgently needed an amount of GH₵300,000.00 to facilitate documentation.
“This will enable the contract to be awarded in her favour and the accused person also promised to hand over the contract documents to the complainant within three weeks,” Chief Inspector Ahiabor narrated.
The complainant then became convinced and decided to give it a try and gave the said amount to the accused person.
But three months later the accused person failed to honor his promises.
He, however, contacted the complainant again to demand another GH₵40,000.00 to fast track the process or give her another contract given to him by Coastal Development Authority (CODA) to develop a certain area in Nsawam.
The accused person succeeded in taking GH₵40,000.00 and went into hiding.
The prosecution further said on September 28, this year, at about 9:30 pm, a witness in the case contacted the accused person for a meeting.
The accused person arranged for a place and a time for a meeting and he was subsequently arrested and brought to the station after he re-surfaced.
The accused person admitted the offence in his caution statement and pleaded to be given time to refund the money collected from the complainant but failed.
The accused has since been granted GH₵340,000.00 bail with five sureties, three of whom must be government workers earning not less than GH₵3,000.00.