Caretaker jailed for rent fraud

Raphael Nii Otu, a 28-year-old caretaker, has been jailed by an Adentan Circuit Court for renting out his employer's apartment to two persons.The court presided over by Mrs Sedinam Awo Kwadam sentenced Otu to two years for defrauding Paul Thomas of GHC11,400.On the second charge of defrauding by false pretences, Otu was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment.He is said to have taken GH3,600 from the second complainant, Joseph Mensah, a sprayer, after promising to rent the same apartment to him.The sentences are to run consecutively, (meaning he would be serving three years in all.)Otu pleaded guilty with an explanation on two counts of defrauding by false pretences.The court, after listening to his explanation, sentenced Otu.The prosecution led by Inspector Ishmael Dewornu told the court that the first complainant Paul Thomas was an engineer residing at Accra and the second complainant, Joseph Mensah, a sprayer residing at Salem Estate.According to the prosecution, Otu resided at Salem Estates.I t said in June 2024, Otu, a caretaker, in the house of one Georgina Fenny, contacted both complainants who needed rooms to rent.According to the prosecution, Otu told the complainants that the owner of the house where he lived urgently needed money, so she had asked him to rent her 2-bedroom house located at Salem Estate for two years.The prosecution said Thomas and Mensah became interested.The court heard that Thomas parted with GHC11,400 while Mensah made an initial payment of GHC3,600 for two years.However, after taking the money, Otu told the complainants that the owner of the house was no longer renting out the rooms and that she had changed her mind.The prosecution said investigations revealed that the owner of the house never contracted Otu to rent out the house on her behalf.It said Otu had failed to refund the money; hence a report was made to the Police, and he was arrested. Source: Ghana News Agency