Ghanaian pastor, Hammond Love, also known as Pastor Love, has been given a 48-month prison sentence with hard labor for theft after a lengthy legal dispute spanning seven years.
The Accra Circuit Court decided Pastor Love’s conviction for taking a vehicle that was given to him, he is the former spouse of gospel artist Obaapa Christie.
Before the verdict was declared, Pastor Love requested the court to show mercy.
He stated his readiness to cover any penalty set by the court instead of being sent to jail.
Even with his plea, Judge Isaac Addo stressed that Pastor Love, as a clergyman, was supposed to maintain a greater level of honesty, especially in situations concerning reliance.
The court, taking into account that he was a first-time offender, took his plea into account, yet concluded that a prison term was needed to act as a preventative measure.
As per Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Frimpong, the occurrence can be traced back to 2016, when Samuel Amankwah, a US citizen, transported a four-wheel-drive car to Ghana.
He assigned Pastor Love to handle the clearance of the car from the harbor, consenting to the pastor selling it for $50,000 and subtracting the clearance expenses from the proceeds.
Nevertheless, Amankwah eventually opted to postpone the sale and planned to go back to Ghana to reimburse Pastor Love for the clearing costs himself.
Upon his return to Ghana in April 2017, Amankwah reached out to Pastor Love to reclaim his car.
Despite several requests, Pastor Love failed to deliver the vehicle.
Becoming increasingly annoyed, Amankwah reported the issue to the authorities, resulting in Pastor Love’s arrest in May 2017.
In police questioning, Pastor Love revealed that he had taken a loan of GHS 40,000 with a 20 percent interest rate to pay for the vehicle’s clearing expenses. He stated that the growing interest compelled him to sell the vehicle for GHS 80,000 without the owner’s permission.
Pastor Love reportedly gave GHS 70,000 to the loan company from that sum.
Nonetheless, Pastor Love was unable to identify the buyer or lead the authorities to the loan company for validation.
The court determined that Pastor Love’s version was not believable and that his inability to present strong proof indicated deceitfulness during the legal proceedings.