Dear Sir,
DEMAND FOR REJOINDER-“Prophetess, & 2 Sons Hot”
I act as Lawyer for the Leader and Founder of Zetaheal Mission Church in Accra, Madam Comfort Adisetu Narh. We have been instructed by our client to write to you on the above subject matter, which we hereby do.
My client’s instruction is that on Friday 6th October 2017 you published at pages 1 and 3 of your newspaper Vol.01 edition Issue No. 038, a story about our client, her two sons and the Zetaheal Mission Church with the above stated caption. The said story which is false and malicious was published in your newspaper without verifying from my client and the authenticity and or/or truthfulness of the said story. This action is clear departure and breach of the journalistic standards required by law and this publication has caused irreparable injury and/or damage to the reputation of my client, her two sons and the Zetaheal Mission Church.
My client’s further instructions are that Ms. Caro Atikpo is a member of the Zetaheal Mission Church. Indeed, at all times material my client has treated Ms. Caro from her childhood as a daughter and for that matter my client has a very cordial and loving relationship with her until recent events.
Sometime ago Ms. Caro volunteered to assist and facilitate the documentation of two plots of land that belonged to my client. In the course of the process of the documentation, Caro Atikpo requested for several amounts of monies from my client ostensibly to be used to facilitate the documentation. All these requests were honoured by my client. These requests for money from my client became rampant and unreasonable for which reason my client became suspicious.
Subsequently, the trial court before whom the dispute regarding my client’s two plots of land is pending, directed that a composite plan should be procured by the parties from a surveyor to ascertain the exact regional geographical location of the disputed lands. This was done and my client has already paid for the said composite plan.
Subsequently, Caro Atikpo informed my client that the other party in the land dispute had allegedly paid some money to the surveyor to alter the said site plan to favour the said party and that for the surveyor not to accede to the alleged request, the regional surveyor had allegedly demanded for the payment of GHC 40,000 as a bribe. My client did not see possibility of such an alteration and being suspicious of the said request, refused to provide the requested amount. Notwithstanding this, Caro Atikpo insisted that she would borrow the money and later on informed my client that she had gone ahead to borrow the said amount of GHC 40,000 from a certain Teye Srpong. Caro Atikpo did not seek the consent or authorisation of my client before allegedly borrowing the said amount. She has also failed to show any credible evidence that she had borrowed such an amount and paid it to the nameless surveyor.
In her efforts to extort this amount of money from my client, Caro Atikpo has resorted to all means including this malicious publication in your newspaper. In fact, sometime in September 2017, Caro Atikpo and a certain young man entered the premises of the Zetaheal Mission Church at 9:30 pm and accosted my client while she was peacefully lying down in front of her apartment which happens to be on the church premises. This confrontation was witnessed by several church members who were then present.
Be that as it may, my client refused to accede to Caro’s demand for the payment of GHC 40,000 and being desperate, Caro went to the police station to falsely report that my client and her two sons had assaulted her. Meanwhile at the time that Caro and her accomplice accosted my client, my client’s sons were not present.
My client’s instruction is that at no material time has she authorised Caro Atikpo to secure or obtain any kind of loan on my client’s behalf. My client is a woman of means, and as a resourceful leader of the Zethanol Mission Church, she is capable of meeting all of her financial obligations without resorting to taking loans. Indeed, even if my client needed a personal loan, she could either obtain it from any of her sons who are gainfully employed and are men of substance or from the numerous church members who are always willing and able to assist in that regard.
In any case Caro Atikpo has instructed a Lawyer to write a demand letter to my client demanding the payment of the said amount of GHC 40,000 and in addition has threatened legal action against my client. It was therefore a surprise to my client that Ms. Caro, with the connivance of your newspaper, published such defamatory statements in your newspaper about my client, her two sons and the Zetaheal Mission Church.
My client wishes to put on record that as the leader of the Zetaheal Mission, she plays the role of a peace-loving mother to all her church members. In addition to that my client is also a peace-loving person, a philanthropist and a teacher of the word of God. My client does not have a violent character and will never a harm any person, especially Ms. Caro whom my client has over the years nurtured as her own daughter.
My client further instructs us that subsequent to the false report made to the Police by Caro, her two sons were invited by the Police and their caution statements were taken. Thereafter her two sons have been granted a Police enquiry bail and according to the Police, the matter is still under investigation. At no material time have my client and her two sons been arraigned before any court of law for committing the crime of fraud.
My client will also want to put on record that the Zetaheal Mission church is the epitome of God’s love for mankind and in all their teachings, they profess this kind of love. The church does not espouse and/or practice voodoo and does not also flog its church members as maliciously published by your newspaper. Zetaheal Mission Church preaches and practices brotherly love and care for one another.
It is the contention of my client that due to your false and malicious publication about her, her two sons and her church, our client’s reputation has been seriously stained and /or injured.
My client has therefore instructed me to demand, which I hereby do, that you cause a retraction of the false story you published in your newspaper on 6th October 2017 about my client. In addition, my client, in the exercise of her constitutional right to a rejoinder, demands that within the next 14 days from the date of this letter, you cause a publication in your newspaper of her version of the matter as narrated here in this letter.
This rejoinder must be given the same publicity and prominence as the defamatory publication made on 6th October 2017 in your newspaper. Failure to do this, my client reserves the right to take legal action against the newspaper and its publishers to vindicate her legal rights.
Please accept for your strict compliance.
Yours faithfully,
Isaac Ofosu-Boateng
CC: COMFORT ADISETU NARH
ZETAHEAL MISSION CHURCH
LARTERBIOKOSHIE
ACCRA.
