The Head Pastor and five other members of the Jesus Spanner Miracle Church in Balungu in the Bongo District of the Upper East Region have all pleaded guilty to the respective charges following the physical abuse of a child under two months of age.
Pastor Kwabena Atogpeelige Akongyaane, Robert Aberinga Akugre, Zacchaeus Ayamga Avaliyemah, a trader, Daniel Ayelga Ageekilingo, a student of Jackson College of Education and Mary Akongyaane, a farmer and wife of the pastor who is also the mother of the baby at the center of the controversies, all pleaded guilty to the charge of “abetment of crime to wit physical abuse” of a child under two months of age.
All five have since been convicted based on their own plea. by the Bolgatanga District Court. Whiles
Pastor Kwabena Atogpeelige Akongyaane, Robert Aberinga Akugre, Zacchaeus Ayamga Avaliyemah, and Daniel Ayelga Ageekilingo, are to pay a fine of 200 penalty units amounting to 2,400, and still serve a one-week jail term, Mary Akongyaane, wife of the head pastor, is to pay a fine of 200 penalty units also amounting to 2,400.
Veronica Ayamga, a Weaver aged 29, pleaded guilty to count one which is the physical abuse of a child under 2 months of age contrary to sections 1 (b and d) and 3(2) of the Domestic Violence Act. 2007 (ACT 732) and was therefore sentenced to pay a fine of 250 penalty units which amounts to 3,000 or in default serve a jail term of 12 months. The sum of the fines amounts to 15,000 cedis.
The Bolgatanga District Court Magistrate, His Worship Mawukoenya Nutekpor, on Monday, July 10, 2023, spared the two women of a jail term because they are breastfeeding mothers of children below 2 years.
The six were on Friday, July 7, 2023, arrested following a video that has since gone viral showing Veronica Ayamga, physically abusing a less than two-month-old baby while the other five cheered her on.
In the statement of offense as indicated by the Prosecutor, Inspector, Baliki Amidu Issaka, the abuse of the child as seen in the video occurred on February 5, 2023, at about 12:00 pm.
The brief facts capture that “the accused persons are natives of Balungu and Zorko in Bongo District and all members of the Jesus Spanner Miracle Church. On 5th February 2023, Veronica Ayamga and Pastor Akonyane were holding we’re holding the victim’s naming ceremony in the said church. During singing, praises, and dancing in the church, Veronica Ayamga was possessed and took charge of the victim from Mary Akonyane under the pretext that, Holy Spirit entered her and that she was protecting the victim from any evil attack. In the process, Madam Veronica started abusing the victim by throwing and tossing him up and down in a dangerous manner while Pastor Kwabena Atogpeelige Akongyaane, Robert Aberinga Akugre, Zacchaeus Ayamga Avaliyemah, Daniel Ayelga Ageekilingo, and Mary Akonyane were busy encouraging her by clapping and praising.”
The video was tendered in court as evidence prior to the sentencing.
