A 38-year-old painter, Joseph Tetteh, has been jailed for 27 months for biting an encroacher.
The painter who worked as a caretaker on a one-acre land in Ashiaman – Kantamanso, a suburb of Ashiaman in the Greater Accra Region was charged with causing harm.
Tetteh lived in a single room on an acre of land ostensibly to ward-off encroachers
“I was home one day when four men on two motorbikes came with another gentleman in a car. They began surveying the land in an attempt to sell portions of it to a potential buyer” he narrated
Tetteh, confused about the situation approached the group and enquired why they were on the land and attempting to sell it
“They ignored me, so I picked out my phone to call the land owner who is based in the United State; they seized my phone and started hitting me,’ he said.
Tetteh fought back but he alone could not overpower four heavily built men, they butchered him and he struggled for his dear life.
“In an attempt to defend myself a finger landed in my mouth and I bit the hand” he narrated
With his body drenched in blood, Tetteh was later arrested by the Ashiaman police
“I asked the police to call my family but they said my phone was not given to them and I also did have neither my mum nor wife’s number off-mind”
Tetteh was later arraigned before an Ashiaman Circuit Court and was fined GHC2700 in default he was to serve 27 months for causing harm.
“I did not have the money nor could I call any family member for help, so eventually, I was sent to the Ankaful prison”
Even though Tetteh has served a little over a year now, his family still does not know he is in jail
“They probably think I am died by now,” he said sobbing.
Tetteh said he is been severely punished for defending his life and home.
“The only wrong thing I did was to defend myself in my home, whiles the people who attacked me are walking freely, I have nothing to say to them but to ask for God’s blessings upon their life,” he said
Through Crime Check Foundation’s Petty Offenders Project, Tetteh’s GHC 2,700 fine has been paid.
He is a free man now.
