Accra High Court fines Asamoah Gyan GH¢1million for malicious prosecution of journalist

Former Black Stars captain, Asamoah Gyan, has been fined GH¢1 million by the Accra High Court for the malicious prosecution of journalist Anthony Sarfo.

The fine comes after the Court found Gyan guilty of malicious prosecution of a journalist, Anthony Sarfo.

Gyan initially sued Sarfo and four others for extortion over the publication of an alleged rape incident between the former Black Stars skipper and one Sarah Kwablah.

Sarfo along with the four other individuals were arrested and charged but they were later found not guilty and acquitted.

Following his release, Anthony Sarfo sued Gyan and his manager Anim Addo for malicious prosecution and demanded GH¢1 million as compensation.

The Court presided by Justice Ernest Owusu Dapaa, announced the ruling on Friday, December 8, finding Gyan and his manager, Samuel Anim Addo, culpable for falsely accusing the plaintiff of extortion and unlawful arrest.

According to Starr FM, the Court also indicated that the arrest, which was pursued by Aim Addo was to protect Gyan’s image to complete a move to China at that time. Hence, the arrest was for Gyan’s protection and not the publication.

In that regard, the Court awarded Anthony Sarfo GH¢900,000 in damages, GH¢111,000 for the 111 months he was out of work, which paid him GH¢1,000 at the time.

Anim Addo and Asamoah Gyan were both charged GH¢60,000, bringing the total to GH¢1,071,000.

Background

In 2019, the Accra Circuit Court acquitted and discharged four persons accused of allegedly extorting money from Black Stars captain, Asamoah Gyan to stop the publication of rape and sodomy he was allegedly involved in.

The four persons namely; Osarfo Anthony (Arts/Entertainment Writer), Chris Handler (Blogger), Sarah Kwablah (Law Student), and Ekow Micah (Musician) were prosecuted on charges of extortion and conspiracy to commit crime.

In June 2016 year, an alleged sodomy story broke out in Ghana’s electronic and print media and attributed to Asamoah Gyan.

They said in the said publication that Sarah alleged that Gyan had sexual intercourse and anal sex with her and she became pregnant.

According to the prosecutor, Sarah discussed the issue with Micah and met Anthony and Handler to discuss the issue and to publish the story on their website in order to scare Gyan who will in turn give them money.

Anthony and Handler published the first story on their website and promised to release the sex tape in their subsequent editions.

Prosecution said a witness in the case read the story on their website known as Ghanabase.com and alerted the complainant.

The complainant contacted Anthony on phone and they threatened to release the sex tape unless a colossal amount was paid or a house was bought for Sarah.

The prosecution said in the complainant’s bid to protect the image of Gyan asked Anthony and Handler to hold on with the publication.

Prosecution said Anthony and Handler threatened to defame the Skipper and they called for an urgent payment of the money.

The Complainant, the prosecution said, feigned interest to pay. When Handler was contacted they charged GH¢30,000.00.

The complainant bargained and they settled on GH¢25,000.00.

The complainant, Anthony and Handler agreed to meet at the London Restaurant.

The Complainant reported the matter to the Police and on July 29, 2019, Anthony met at the London Restaurant and 1,000 dollars, GH¢6,000.00, and a cheque of GH¢15,000.00 was given to him.

Anthony was however nabbed when he received the money. The rest of the accused persons were arrested later.