Omale Ojonugwu Uwa

Sources

1. I Didn't Clean Victim With Red Handkerchief, Modern Ghana, July 28, 2010.
2. Court Frees 2 Mormons, Ghana Review International, April 16, 2011.

• 1. I Didn't Clean Victim With Red Handkerchief

  • 20100728
  • News article
  • Modern Ghana

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  OMALE OJONUGKLU Ukwa, an evangelist from Nigeria who allegedly defiled a 14-year-old girl with a colleague evangelist, has denied that he used a red handkerchief to clean the blood from the victim's vagina after he had sex with her.

  Ukwa, who belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is on a good news mission to win souls for Christ.

  Under cross-examination by the prosecutor, ASP Sarah Ekua Acquah, Ukwa told the Accra Gender-Based Violence Court presided over by Georgina Mensah-Dasta that even though he had “a red face towel I use to clean my face”, it was his personal face towel and he would never use it for such a thing.

  This was after the prosecutor put it to him that after he had sex with the victim, who was bleeding after the sexual act, he used a handkerchief to wipe the blood.

  The accused person also denied that he and his alleged accomplice, Thatayaone Keeng who is from Botswana, took turns to defile the girl and said he never sent the girl on errands.

  Led in his examination-in-chief by his counsel Edward Doh, the accused person told the court that in February and March 2010, he had all his evangelism activities on his planner.

  The evangelist explained that every Saturday, after morning companionship service, he would go preaching to people, whose names he gave as Mary, Martha, Miriam Jessica, Jennifer and Justina.

  The accused person, who kept on repeating the same names and the same activities for about ten minutes, also admitted that he gave the victim a spray because “My Lord it was not working and I wanted to dispose it of but she said she wanted it.”

  When asked where he got the spray from, he said it was given to him by a church member but anytime he tried spraying it, it would not work.

  Ukwa also said he did not know why the victim would allege he had defiled her because he never did such a thing and denied the allegation concerning the “red face” towel.

  The case was adjourned to today for the prosecutor to continue with the cross-examination.

  On Monday, the evangelist said that he knew the complainant, who the alleged victim lives with, as a neighbour.

  Even though the accused person admitted that as missionaries, he and his alleged accomplice Mr. Keeng were acquaintances, he said they did not do everything together.

  Explaining further, he stated that he and another Elder called Walter had been paired among the group of missionaries, so he was closer to Elder Walter than Mr. Keeng.

  The prosecutor, who presented the facts of the case, told the court that the complainant was a dress maker, with the victim being her house-help in Accra.

  The accused persons occasionally sent the girl to buy ingredients which they used for cooking.

  According to the prosecutor, on February 1, 2010, the first accused, after calling the victim under the pretext of sending her on an errand, asked her whether she had ever been kissed; a question the girl answered in the negative.

  Mrs. Acquah, the prosecutor, said the evangelist then called her to his room, where he pushed her onto his bed and forcibly had sex with her, after which the second accused, Keeng, who was in the room all this while, also had his turn.

  They allegedly warned her not to disclose the ordeal to her madam or else she would be sent back to her village.

• 2. Court Frees 2 Mormons

  • 20110416
  • News article
  • Ghana Review International

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  Two missionaries attached to the Church of Jesus
  Christ of Latter Day Saints popularly called
  Mormons, who were jailed for defiling a
  14-year-old girl, have been acquitted and
  discharged by an Accra High Court.

  The two, Omale Ojonugwu Uwa aka Elder Omale, 25,
  from Nigeria, and Thatayaone Keeng aka Elder
  Keeng, 20, from Botswana, were given ten and seven
  years jail terms respectively by an Accra Circuit
  Court presided over by Mrs. Georgina Mensah Datsa;
  but the High Court presided over by Justice C.A.
  Wilson said the trial court was wrong in
  convicting the missionaries.

  Counsel for the convicts, Kwabena Addo Attuah
  appealed against the sentences at the High Court
  and Justice Wilson set aside the judgment of the
  trial court and said he would give his reasons for
  the decision later.

  They were arraigned before the Circuit Court
  charged with four counts of conspiracy and
  defilement but the trial court did not find them
  guilty on the third count where the particulars of
  offence stated that on April 5, 2010, the two
  missionaries defiled the victim.

  Elder Omale was however found guilty on counts
  one, two and four where the particulars of offence
  said on March 10, 2010, he agreed or acted
  together with a common purpose to commit crime and
  on February 2010, defiled the victim.

  Elder Keeng, on the other hand, was found guilty
  on counts one and two where the particulars of
  offence stated that he agreed or acted together
  with a common purpose to commit crime and on
  February 2010, defiled the victim.

  Not satisfied with the decision, Mr. Attuah
  appealed on behalf of the Mormons and succeeded in
  getting the High Court to quash the conviction.

  He argued that the trial judge erred in convicting
  his clients when the prosecution had failed to
  establish a case beyond reasonable doubt against
  them.

  'The evidence, led by the prosecution, was fraught
  with inconsistencies. For instance, the
  prosecution could not produce a birth certificate
  to prove the alleged victim's age, yet the trial
  judge went ahead to convict my clients.'

  He said the prosecution only brought a weighing
  card in place of a birth certificate and there
  were three different birth dates on the card,
  adding, 'It is pertinent to note that apart from
  the uncorroborated and thus unreliable evidence of
  the second prosecution witness, none of the
  testimonies of the other prosecution witnesses
  connected my clients with the commission of the
  crime.'

  Counsel said, 'The verdict of the court is
  unreasonable and unsupported by the evidence on
  record in view of the serious conflicts and
  discrepancies contained in the case of the
  prosecution against the appellants herein.

  'The trial judge occasioned a miscarriage of
  justice when she misdirected herself in law and
  breached the rule of natural justice.'

  The facts of the case, as presented by Assistant
  Superintendent of Police (ASP), Sarah Ekua Acquah,
  were that on February 1, 2010, Elder Omale, after
  calling the victim under the pretext of sending
  her on an errand, asked her whether she had ever
  been kissed, to which she responded in the
  negative.

  She said Elder Omale called the victim to his room
  and defiled her after which Keeng, who was in the
  room and witnessed the act, also took his turn.

  After satisfying themselves, they warned the
  victim not to disclose the ordeal to her mistress
  otherwise she would be sent back to the village.

  ASP Acquah said on another occasion, March 10, the
  complainant asked the victim to fetch some water
  from a polytank in the compound.

  But the victim could not find the key to the
  polytank and went to the accused persons for their
  key but they denied it was in their possession.

  ASP Acquah said that in the process, the accused
  persons defiled the victim again but a friend of
  the complainant saw the victim enter the accused
  persons' room.

  The prosecution said the complainant asked the
  victim what the accused persons invited her for.

  ASP Acquah said that the victim said she had been
  defiled by the accused persons.

  Source - Daily Guide