THE Tema Circuit Court ‘B’ was yesterday presented with a certified medical result of an HIV test carried out on Pastor Prince Mark Amoah, alias Marvin Brown, the spiritual head of the New Jerusalem Religion, a Tema Community 4 based church.
The Circuit Court, presided over by Bart Plange-Brew, had ordered an HIV test to be conducted on the spiritual head of the church, who is facing a sodomy trial, to help determine his status regarding the deadly disease.
The court gave the order following a complaint lodged with the Tema Regional Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) by the father of a 14-year-old boy, who was sodomised by the 32-year-old pastor several times and succeeded in infecting him with the deadly disease.
The result is expected to help resolve the dispute surrounding how the 14-year-old victim got infected with the deadly disease, especially when Pastor Mark had earlier admitted the offence during interrogation, shortly after his arrest, which he later denied in court.
His lawyer’s request to have him bailed fell flat as he was reminded that the offence for which the pastor was being held in police custody was not one for which bail could be granted.
Prosecuting, ASP Majorie Otebil, briefing the court about the result of the test, noted that in line with the court’s order, the pastor was taken to the Police Hospital in Accra where he was medically tested by Dr. K.A. Nkansah on August 6, 2013. Prosecution stated that the result clearly indicated the pastor had been diagnosed HIV positive.
Reading the brief facts to the court, prosecution mentioned the complainant as policeman and a father of the victim.
According to prosecution, about a year ago, the complainant became a member of the church of the accused and attended prayers with the victim.
The complainant subsequently became a friend of the accused and in November, 2012, Pastor Mark requested the complainant to allow the victim to stay with him at his house at Community 4, Tema.
The complainant was said to have agreed and sent his son to spend the vacation between November and December 2012 with the accused.
While there, Pastor Mark allegedly had unnatural carnal knowledge of the innocent boy on five separate times in his bedroom.
The victim, who later returned to his parents in January 2013, was said to have started complaining of sickness. A swelling at the back of both his head and neck reportedly got the parents alarmed so they took him to the Tema General Hospital on July 18, 2013 where he was diagnosed as being HIV positive by a medical doctor.
Meanwhile, an HIV test conducted on the victim’s parent by the same medical facility proved negative.
It was at this point that the victim mentioned the Pastor as the one who sodomised him five times during an interrogation by the medical doctor.
Prosecution continued that on July 31, 2013, the complainant lodged a complaint with DOVVSU at the Tema Regional Police Command and a police medical form was issued to him to send the victim to the hospital for examination and treatment. The pastor was accordingly arrested and put before the circuit court where he is currently standing trial in a sodomy case.
He pleaded not guilty on the two counts for which he was being charged; having unnatural carnal knowledge with a boy of 14 and infesting him with the HIV virus.
Source: Razak Mardorgyz Abubakar, Tema
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