A farmer at Bepotenten in the Ashanti Region, Peter Amenya has indicated to the High Court in Accra how “everything” in his farmlands were cleared by Chinese galamsey kingpin Aisha Huang.
Testifying as the 6th Prosecution Witness in the ongoing trial in which the notorious galamsey Queen is standing trial for four charges, Peter Amenya said “the accused person had cleared everything on my farmland with excavators for mining purposes.”
Aisha Huang has pleaded not guilty to four charges namely undertaking a mining operation without a licence, facilitating the participation of persons engaged in a mining operation, illegal employment of foreign nationals, and entering Ghana while prohibited from re-entering.
She has since been remanded into prisons custody while the trial is ongoing.
In his witness statement adopted by the Criminal Division of the Accra High Court on Tuesday, March 7, when he mounted the witness box, the witness also told the court how Aisha Huang stormed his farmlands without payment following earlier negotiations.
“I met the accused person sometime in 2017, through James Ogbey, one of her employees,” the Witness said.
“The said James Ogbey contacted me and my brother in-law called Timothy Teye Ali, and informed us that the accused person was interested in purchasing our farmland for her mining business,” he told the court.
The witness said, “Aisha then sent a surveyor, whose name I do not know, accompanied by James Ogbey to my farm to take measurements of the land.
“My farmland shared a boundary with the cocoa and palm plantation of Timothy Teye Ali,” and “The surveyor and James Ogbey took measurements of the farmland of Timothy Teye Ali as well.”
Negotiations
He told the court that, “after negotiating the price, James Ogbey called the accused person and told her about the size of the land and the price we had agreed on being GHS8,000.00 per an acre of land. She asked Ogbey to bring us to her mining site which was nearby.”
Mr Amenya told the court that in total “I was to be paid GHS22,000.00 for my two and a half acres of farm land.”
“Timothy Teye Ali, Boyoo@ Kojo Tia, Moses Teye Ali and I went with Ogbey to meet Aisha at her mining site. She gave each of us an amount of GHS1,000.00 as part payment to show her commitment to the purchase of our farm land. She made the payment through Ogbey,” he told the court.
The farmer said, three weeks “after the initial part-payment of GHS1000.00 to me, Jame Ogbey called me to his house and paid me an additional amount of GHS5,000.00 on behalf of Aisha with the promise that I would be paid the outstanding balance within a short period.”
“Prior to the receipt of the GHS5,000.00 the accused person had cleared everything on my farmland with excavators for mining purposes.”
Arrest
The 6th Prosecution Witness told the court that he later “heard that the accused person had been arrested for indulging in illegal mining and had been deported to China.”
“Aisha left behind an excavator which was parked at her mining site near my farm,” and that “James Ogbey told me he will sell this excavator as scraps and the money realised will be used to pay all the debts Aisha owed us.”
He told the court that he subsequently “heard the excavator had been cut into pieces and sold as scraps by James Ogbey so I went to where the excavator was located to verify.”
The excavator he said was not there and that “Since the arrest of Aisha, nobody has come forward to pay us our outstanding amount owed us.”
“My brother-in-law Timothy Teye Ali, reported James Ogbey’s conduct to the police for redress and Timothy subsequently sent the case the court.”
Cross-Examination
Under Cross-Examination from lawyers of Aisha Huang led by Miracle Attah-Chey, the witness said he dealt with James Ogbey.
When it was put to him that all payments regarding the land were made to himself and Timothy, he disagreed.
He however agreed with counsel’s suggestion that based on the fact that he dealt with James Ogbey throughout the transaction he approached Ogbey when she defaulted in making payments.
The witness has since been discharged by the High Court in Accra presided over by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo.
EIB Network’s Legal Affairs Correspondent, Murtala Inusah who was in court reports that the case has been adjourned to March 8 for prosecution to call its 7th Witness.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM/Murtala Inusah
