Man Charged With Vandalising Statues | Crime

A 37-year-old CCTV camera installer has been dragged before the Kwabenya Circuit Court for destroying the busts mounted in honour of the ‘Big Six’ at the Airport Roundabout in Accra.

Newell Gavu aka Osobioto was captured in a video destroying the historical monument on August 31, 2024 for no apparent reason.

Court documents indicate that he confessed during police interrogation that he destroyed the monument because he was directed by a spirit in his dream to destroy the statues”.

The court presided over by Mawusi Bedjra did not take the accused person’s plea but instead, ordered the police to take him to the psychiatric hospital for evaluation and a medical report issued on his condition.

He has been charged with one count of causing unlawful damage, contrary to Section 172 of the Criminal and Other Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29).

Prosecution’s brief facts presented by Chief Inspector Gershon Achondo named the complainant as Akorli Henry Jnr., a security officer at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA), the one who saw the accused destroying the statues and subsequently caused his arrest.

The brief facts stated that the accused during interrogation gave inconsistent statements to the police before finally indicating that he was directed by a spirit in his dream to cause the destruction.

It said further investigation revealed that about four years ago, Newell Gavu began exhibiting some abnormal behaviours and his uncle, Winnard Kwesi Gavu, a 70-year-old retired church accountant, took the accused person to Pantang Hospital where he was treated and discharged and put on medication.

“That at a point in time, the accused person stopped taking his medications, burnt all his hospital cards and threw all his medication away and left the house,” the court documents indicated.

It continued that the Police visited Pantang Hospital for information about the accused person, but the authorities told the police that, the Hospital had migrated from their old system of record keeping to a digital system, hence they will need time to check from the old records to give any information to the police.