Woman Before Court For Setting Lover's House Ablaze

A woman who allegedly set ablaze her former lover�s four-bedroom house has been arraigned before the Accra Circuit Court. Abena Agyeman, self-employed, set ablaze the complainant�s house at Teshie Okpoi Gonnor in Accra around 10:00a.m. on March 21, 2012, destroying his personal effects worth GH�220,000. She allegedly took advantage of the absence of the complainant and other occupants of the house to embark on her mission. The prosecution said Tuesday that it took personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) two hours to bring the fire under control. Agyeman pleaded not guilty to two counts of unlawful entry and causing unlawful damage and has been granted bail in the sum of GH�20,000, with two sureties. She is expected to reappear on April 19, 2012. Presenting the facts of the case, Inspector A. Afetsi told the court that the complainant is a member of staff of an NGO, while the accused person is a self-employed woman resident in Tema. The two had met in the United Kingdom in 1998 and fell in love. They subsequently returned to Ghana and continued the relationship. But the relationship turned sour in December 2011, resulting in their eventual break-up. According to the prosecution, the accused person, on March 21, 2012, sneaked into the complainant�s four-bedroom house when the inmates of the house had left for work and set the house ablaze. Agyeman then attempted to escape but a witness in the case spotted her and raised an alarm. She was subsequently arrested and handed over to the police. A search in the accused person�s handbag revealed a plastic bottle containing some quantity of kerosene, two match boxes and a plier believed to have been used by the accused person to forcibly open the complainant�s door.