Isaac Odoom, 64, who was given a 12-month prison sentence for sleeping in an abandoned home once owned by ex-Black Stars player John Paintsil, has described the events that prompted him to spend the night there.
He said that he was a stranger who had paid a visitor and was unaware that Pentsil was the home’s owner.
In an interview with Crime Check TV GH, the elderly man who was serving a 12-month prison sentence at Winneba Local Prison disclosed his involvement in the production and sale of charcoal. He continued, saying that he had traveled from his house in Ajumako to Besease for business on that fatal day, but since it was late, he was unable to return home.
The friend who had housed him was detained in connection with Paintsil’s house, and the suspect named him as an accomplice, he learned two days after he returned to his Ajumako.
Along with his friend, Baidoo was taken into custody, accused, and arraigned. Odoom was given a GH1400 punishment after the court found him guilty of two offenses. Because he lacked the money to pay the fine, he was imprisoned.
“I live in Ajumako and I went to Besease to work on charcoal. Usually, I sleep at the production site at night but that day, someone suggested we sleep in a house. I thought the person had a place since I was new in the area. When we got to the house, we went through the window. When I asked him why he said he had an issue with his mother and didn’t want her to see him. It was in the morning he told me the house belonged to John Paintsil,” Odoom narrated.
The court charged us with unlawful entry and trespassing on someone’s property. We were also accused of stealing a mattress. But I pleaded guilty for unlawful entry and trespassing and not guilty for theft,” he said
Reacting to this, John Paintsil asked Ghanaians to stop tagging him as a bad man, especially since the people who broke into his house stole some items.
Read his full statement below;