ESTATE DEVELOPER ARRESTED

An estate developer, Maria O’sullivan who is accused of unlawfully causing damage and stealing has been summoned before an Accra circuit court.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Nketia, the crime officer of Spintex told the court that in 2003, the accused awarded a contract to the complainant, Anthony Kwarteng for road networks and demarcation of lands for estate development.

According to DSP Nketia, instead of the accused paying the complainant, she gave him four plots of land to defray the payment of the contract and also provided him with the necessary documents covering the land.

He said, in April 2009, the complainant started developing the four plots of land, only to be confronted by one Mark Addo who also claimed ownership of the same plots of land to have purchased it from the accused for USD $52,000.00. A report was then made to the police and all of the three; the complainant, accused and the said Mark Addo were invited for investigation. However, after a lengthy interrogation, It became apparent that the complainant was the rightful owner. Hence, both the accused and the said Mark Addo were advised to stay away from the land.

On Thursday 30/04/09 at about 3:30pm, the accused called the police that she would demolish the whole structure put up by the complainant. A day later, the accused proceeded to the land site and threatened the workers of the complainant to demolish the building. A witness in the case called the complainant on 02/05/09 that the accused had led four armed soldiers, six armed policemen and eight land guards to demolish the complainant’s building structure and a security kiosk without any demolishing order, as well as stealing the working tools as stated in the charge sheet.

Consequently, the accused was invited by the police but she refused to honour the invitation, saying police has nothing to do with land matters. Thus on this account, criminal summons was served on her to appear before court for hearing.