Trial of Kwaw Kese Resumes

The trial of one of Ghana's renowned hip-life artistes, Emmanuel Botchway, aka Kwaw Kese, who is accused of fraud on Wednesday resumed after the annual recess of the courts. Kese has been arraigned for allegedly defrauding his ex-lover, Ms. Happi Chappell, of 7,000 pounds sterling. The money was to have been used for a building at Prampram in the Greater Accra Region. He has denied the charge and is on a GH�15,000 bail. Mounting the witness box at an Accra Circuit Court, Ms Francisca Okine, a fashion designer, admitted knowing Kese. Ms. Okine said on April 20, this year she was at home when Ms. Chappell in the company of Kese visited her at Osu. The fourth prosecution witness said she together with Ms. Chappell and Kese went to meet a contractor at Prampram in the Greater Accra Region. In the presence of the contractor, Ms Okine said, Ms. Chappell asked the contractor to contact Kese whenever he needed money for the project. Witness said she later heard that Ms. Chappell had given Kese 7,000 pound sterling. In a cross-examination by Naa Odofoley Nortey, counsel for Kese, witness said she could not remember the date the three of them visited Prampram. The prosecution earlier told the court that Kese and Ms. Chappell were "good lovers" in 2008 and she decided to develop her plot of land at Prampram after the two had visited the site. The prosecution said in January this year, Ms. Chappell returned from the United Kingdom and gave 7,000 pounds to Kese, but he failed to use the money for the project. After several attempts to collect her money, she lodged a complaint with the Police and Kese was arrested. During Police interrogation, Kese admitted receiving 1,000 pounds and not 7,000 pounds. Hearing continues on October 22.