FAKE JOURNALIST JAILED FOR TWO YEARS (SEPT 17, PAGE 20)

EBENEZER Van Dyke Akoto, a 29-year-old self-styled journalist, who used a press card of Radio Gold to defraud the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Asuogyaman of GH¢430, has been sentenced to two years’ imprisonment.
Akoto, who was arrested when he made a second attempt to dupe the DCE, Mr Johnson Ahiakpor, four months later, of an additional GH¢250, pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing fake documents and defrauding by false pretences.
The court, presided over by Mr Asmah Akwasi Asiedu, gave him 24 months for the first count and 18 months for the second count, but the sentences were to run concurrently.
He had already spent two weeks on remand at the Akuse Prisons.
As soon as the judge pronounced sentence, Akoto, who was immaculately dressed in a pair of trousers and a shirt, broke down in tears after which he was immediately whisked away in a waiting vehicle to begin his new life at the Akuse Prisons.
Passing sentence, Mr Akwasi Asiedu said if Van Dyke Akoto could hang a press card around his neck and go to the extent of presenting himself to a DCE to defraud him, then that was serious.
Earlier, Messrs Gad Motey and Stephen Ahor, counsel for the accused, pleaded for mitigation and prayed the court to deal leniently with Van Dyke Akoto, who they said was a young single parent with a six-year-old child, and that his incarceration in prison would adversely affect the child.
They also told the court that Van Dyke Akoto, before committing the crime, had not had any breach of the law, and that his remand at the Akuse Prisons had made him remorseful.
Presenting the facts of the case at the court’s sitting at Odumase Krobo at the weekend, the prosecutor, Inspector R. A. Boahene, said Van Dyke Akoto, who was holding a Radio Gold identity card on April 20 this year, went to Mr Ahiakpor at Atimpoku, the district capital of Asuogyaman, and told the DCE that he had been sent by the Editor of Radio Gold to do a feature story on his vision for the district to be aired on the FM station and demanded GH¢430 to that effect.
Inspector Boahene said after collecting the money, Van Dyke Akoto failed to do such a feature story and went into hiding.
He said on August 12, this year, Van Dyke Akoto again went to Mr Ahiakpor and demanded GH¢250 for another feature story, but unknown to Akoto, the DCE had made enquiries at Radio Gold, which disclaimed the culprit, and he, therefore,caused his arrest.