An Accra circuit court has convicted a fetish priest, who claimed he has powers to double the money of his client, for fraud.

The convict, Benjamin Doe aka Ben Doe, was reported to have taken Ȼ21,540 from one Joseph Acquah with a promise to increase it to Ȼ80,000 through spiritual means.

According to the prosecution led by ASP A. Sulimana, Ben Doe falsely made the claim with inten­tion to defraud the complainant.

Although Ben Doe had denied the charges, the court, presided over by Aboagye Tandoh, found him guilty.

Pleading for mitigation, lawyer for the accused, George Asamaney, said his client should be spared custodial sentencing to be given the chance to raise the money to pay the accused, even with interest.

In the judgement, the court said the prosecution led enough evidence against the accused per­son.

It said Benjamin Doe could not return the money to the com­plainant and that to add insult to injury, he (accused) kept asking Joseph for more money.

Mr. Tandoh was emphatic that the media were to blame for the upsurge of such cases because media houses had offered their platforms for such people.

He said the complainant on the other hand, should have resorted to hard work rather than the shortcut to wealth.

Based on the mitigation by the counsel for the accused, the judge deferred sentencing to today.

Joseph is a trader at Prestea in the Western Region while the con­vict is a resident of Adjen Kotoku in the Greater Accra Region.

In February last year Ben Doe advertised on Amansa TV with his telephone number saying he could help people to grow their businesses.

Joseph, seeing the telephone number from the screen, reported­ly called and Ben Doe directed him to his house where they met.

Ben Doe then showed Joseph types of work he does, including money doubling, dry pocket and ‘sika duro’ (blood money) and asked the com­plainant to choose the one he was interested in.

After listening to Ben Doe, Joseph expressed interest in the money doubling mode and the accused demanded Ȼ8,000 to make it Ȼ80,000 and as such, collected Ȼ13,540 claiming he was going to buy some items for rituals.

The Ben finally collected Ȼ21,540 but he failed to honour his promise and efforts to retrieve the money also failed.