Bishop Vaglas Kanco pleads for bail

Bishop Samuel Vaglas Kanco, General Overseer of Vineyard Chapel is languishing in jail.
Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday May 24, 2011
Bishop Samuel Vaglas Kanco, General Overseer of Vineyard Chapel has filed an application at an Accra Fast Track High Court for bail pending appeal against the 18-month prison sentence handed down to him by a Circuit Court.

An Accra Circuit Court presided over by Mr. D.E.K. Dzaketsey on May 5, 2011 sentenced Bishop Kanco to 18 months in prison after he was found guilty of defrauding Clova Sutherland, a British woman of £120,000 but the convict says the trial court erred in jailing him and therefore wants to be released before he begins the process to fight his conviction.

Yesterday at the Fast Track High Court where the convict has filed the application for bail, there was disagreement between the prosecution led by Rexford Anthony Wiredu, Principal State Attorney who are now respondents in the case and the defense team led by Kissi Agyebeng, who has also become the appellant over the format for the application.

Mr. Wiredu raised objection to the title of defense counsel’s motion and asked: How can an appeal coming from the Circuit Court to the High Court be a motion? It should be titled: “Petition for appeal.”

He said under Section 326 of the Criminal and other Offences Act the motion filed by Bishop Kanco does not meet the requirement of a petition coming from the Circuit Court.

The Principal State Attorney said Bishop Kanco failed to attach the necessary documents including a copy of the judgement of the trial court needed for the motion to be heard saying “the motion is standing on the leg of the appeal and if there is nothing before the court then it cannot be moved.”

But Mr. Agyebeng disagreed with the Principal Sate Attorney saying the defense team made strenuous efforts to get a copy of the judgement to be attached to the application to no avail.

He said “we applied for the judgement but the registry said they do not have a certified true copy. Our hands are tied without a certified true copy of the judgement.”

Mr. Agyebeng also said that Section 326 of the Criminal and other Offences Act quoted by the prosecution to support its claim does not apply to Circuit Courts but rather District Magistrates.

As a result, the court presided over by Justice Charles Quist ordered the registrar of the Circuit Court to transfer the judgement to the High Court for the motion to be moved and adjourned proceedings until June 6, 2011.

Bishop Kanco had the rudest shock of his life as he was handcuffed to make the journey to Nsawam Maximum Security Prisons to begin his 18 month sentence after he was found guilty of defrauding Clova Sutherland of £120,000.

This was after the Circuit Court judge who presided over the case, D.E.K. Dzaketsey found him guilty of defrauding the British national and lawyer, of the said amount.

Bishop Kanco collected the cheque of £120,000 from Ms. Sutherland under the guise of praying over it but went ahead to cash the money without her consent then vanished.

The cheque was meant for Ms. Sutherland’s boyfriend who the Bishop described as “evil.” While on trial he created the impression that the amount was a gift given to him by Ms. Sutherland.

The complainant, who was unemployed at that time, told the court that the pastor told her the cheque which bore her boyfriend’s name had to be prayed on because if she gave it to him, he would use it as a point of contact to kill her.

The General Overseer apart from the jail term was ordered to pay the money.