Snakeman Re-Arrested

Mallam Fatau Dakwariya, who shot to fame for his alleged spiritual prowess to change two snakes believed to be Kofi Adjei and Kwame Tetteh back into their human form, was arraigned before an Accra Circuit Court on Wednesday September 9 2009. He however failed to appear in the docket when his case was called. This caused the presiding judge, Justice Ivy Heward Mills, to issue a bench warrant for his arrest. However Fatau, who had sought the permission of the police to use the bathroom according to police sources at the National Police Headquarters, was still within the court premises and was thus rearrested. The police source said Mallam Fatau was escorted to the court by police personnel, adding he never attempted to escape. He re-appeared before the same court on Thursday September 10 2009, where he was charged with the publication of false news with intent to cause fear and alarm to the public. The prosecuting officer, ASP A.A. Annor, told the court that the complainant in the case was a Ghanaian journalist who logged on to the internet for human interest stories on July 24, and found a story about four men whose desire for riche had led them to the shrine of one Nana Ogya at Aburi New-Town in the Eastern Region. The story went on to say that two of the four had turned into snakes while the others had become deaf and dumb. There were several other publications in the media the next day, claiming Mallam Fatau had cured the two deaf and dumb men of their predicament. There were other publications in various forms of calendars, displaying the pictures of the two, Filco and Yaw Goro, including the suspect and the two snakes that were then vomiting dollars. The complainant followed the story and realized the story was untrue. He then reported the matter to the police, who during investigations found out that there was no fetish priest in Aburi called Nana Ogya, neither was there a suburb of Aburi called Aburi New-Town. It was also discovered that the two boys, Yaw Goro and Filco were farm labourers for one Joe Tapolie, a native of Sakyikrom also in the Eastern Region. The boys were said to have trapped the snakes on their farm. They then displayed the snakes at the taxi rank, which drew a heavy crowd to the scene.When the two were asked what they intended to do with the snakes, they said they were going to sell them to a Chinese road contractor at Nsawam. The two boys have since fled to an unknown place. The two snakes were still in a box at accused�s consulting room at Ablekuma.The accused has since not been able to produce the phone numbers or addresses of the said relatives of the snakes who brought them for cure. Mallam Fatau also could not produce any of the dollars allegedly vomited by the snakes.The case was adjourned to today, September 11, 2009.