Eric Kwasi Marfo, a former inmate of the Nsawam
prison lost his child few days after he was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment
for unsettled debts.
Eric who shared his sad story with Mr. Ibrahim Oppong Kwarteng on Crime Check
TV further revealed that his beloved wife also died two weeks after their
child’s death. He didn’t even get the opportunity to bid either of them a
proper farewell.
According to Eric, his daughter fell off a swing in school and broke her neck
but he didn’t have money to foot the hospital bills at the time so he turned to
his close friend for help.
The friend who had helped Eric secure a job as a driver at Access Bank was kind
enough to lend him the Two Thousand Ghana cedis, which he needed to foot his
daughter’s hospital bill as well as an extra GH¢2,600 to pay his landlord who
was demanding house rent at the time.
An agreement was made that Eric will pay back the money after a month but after
few days, his friend came asking for the money.
“He asked for the money after four days but I told him I couldn’t get it for him at the time… his fiancée’s family asked him to come for a proper introduction or else they would marry her off to another man who had returned from abroad so he needed the money to do that,” Eric told crimecheckghana.
His friend kept pressurizing him for the money and Eric who is a friend of the CEO of Rufftown Records says he called Bullet for assistance but the latter said he was out of town at the moment and will get back to him on his return.
He got a call from the Kotobabi police station to come over and he went there to meet the uncle of his friend who is a police officer.
“His uncle told me to pay back the money since he needed it for something but I
told him I couldn’t pay then…I stayed in cells that evening and was taken to
court the following day,” he stated.
Even though the judge and lawyers in court agreed that case wasn’t one meant
for court, Eric was still sentenced to a GH¢1,800 fine or in default had to
spend 18 months in prison.
Three days after he was sent to the Nsawam
prison, Eric who hadn’t informed his family of the issue at hand called his
wife to find out how their daughter was doing but he was met with the sad news
of the child’s death.
“My wife also died about two weeks after our daughter’s death” he said. According
to Eric, his friend who is responsible for him ending up in prison visited when
he was at Nsawam but he refused to see him.
As part of Crime Check Foundation’s Petty Offenders project, the fine on Eric has been paid off for his release from the James Camp prison where he was serving the final months of his sentence.
