A SUNYANI District Court ‘A’ presided over by Jojo Hagan Amoah has fined the driver of a lumber truck that crashed into the official vehicle of the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh.
Therefore, Godwin Amevorna, 52, has been ordered to pay GH¢13,110 or in default go to jail for six months.
He crashed his vehicle into the minister’s Land Cruiser V8 when he tried to stop him after detecting that the convict was carrying timber without licence.
The minister had spotted Godwin with a truck-load of timber, a consignment which turned out that it was without timber utilization contract, contrary to section 17(2c) of Timber Resources Management Act, Act 547.
He then signaled the driver to stop but he refused and rammed his car into the minister’s vehicle.
Prosecuting, Detective Corporal Prince Oppong Amankwa told the court that Godwin, on January 2, bought 299 auctioned lumber (Odum) from Dormaa District Forest at a cost of GH¢4,000 and loaded them into a cargo truck with registration number AS 4955-E.
The investigator said the driver again bought another 114 assorted lumber from a wood merchant without documents and loaded them onto the same truck.
However, at about 10 pm, the minister intercepted the truck and asked the driver to stop but he refused and rather rammed into the rear of the minister’s official vehicle.
The truck, together with its content, was handed over to the regional Forestry Commission for inspection and verification.
He said after investigation, it was detected that there was an excess of 114 lumber with a face value of GH¢2,670.
The accused pleaded guilty to buying harvested timber without timber utilization contract, contrary to section 17(2c) of timber resources management act, ACT 547 and was fined.
danielyaodayee@yahoo.com
FROM Daniel Y Dayee, Sunyani
