Richard Asare Baffour, lawyer for traditional priestess turned evangelist Patricia Asiedua Asiamah, popularly known as Nana Agradaa, has announced plans to challenge the 15-year jail sentence handed to his client by a Circuit Court in Accra on Thursday.
The lawyer described the ruling as a miscarriage of justice and revealed that the legal team would file an appeal next week.
“The good thing is that this judgment is delivered by the Circuit Court. So the appellate court—we will file the necessary processes early Monday morning. We are going to do that early Monday morning,” said Baffour to Accra-based Citi FM .
Agradaa was sentenced by Her Honour Evelyn Asamoah of Circuit Court 10 to 15 years in prison for two counts of defrauding by false pretences. She was also fined GH¢300 for one count of charlatanic advertisement, with a 30-day custodial sentence in default of payment.
Baffour expressed his disappointment with the court’s decision, citing what he called flawed reasoning behind the ruling.
“We were not expecting this at all but in summary, the judgment delivered by the court today is nothing but a travesty of justice,” he said.
He added: “We say so not because the decision did not go our way. We say so because we are deeply concerned about the reasoning of the court.”
Earlier, Baffour had pleaded for leniency, stressing Agradaa’s role as a mother of five and her remorseful conduct during the trial. However, the court sided with the prosecution, which argued for a stiff penalty to deter similar fraudulent acts.
Agradaa was arrested in October 2022 after advertising a money-doubling scheme during a church event. Her legal team now hopes the appeal will overturn the sentence or reduce the severity of the punishment. Enditem
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