A 62-year-old landlady, Hawa Mohammed, has been sentenced by the Madina District Magistrate Court to a 12-month jail term with hard labour or pay a fine of GHȻ2,400, which is equivalent to 200 penalty units, for causing her tenants to dispose waste indiscriminately.
Madam Mohammed owns a house from which two women were caught on tape dumping rubbish in running water during a downpour on June 3, 2019.
The viral video caught the attention of many including people who vowed to have the women prosecuted for what they said was unlawful.
The La-Nkwantanang Madina Municipal Assembly picked up the matter and had the landlady prosecuted.
The court presided over by His Lordship Richard Delali Anku charged the accused person with ‘causing public nuisances’ in accordance Section 56 sub-sections (a-b) of Act 851 of the Public Health Act of 2012.
The court put it to her that on Monday, June 3, 2019, she willfully allowed her tenants to dump refuse stored in sacks from her premises in the neighborhood when it was raining, creating a health hazard.
The accused person in her statement to the court explained that she was not around at the time of the incident.
She claimed she was admitted at the hospital undergoing treatment, stating she would have seen and stopped them if she was at home.
She pleaded guilty and asked the court to temper justice with mercy. She added that she has currently registered with a waste management company.
Meanwhile, the court has also issued an arrest warrant for the two ladies who perpetrated the act. They are currently at large.
The prosecutor of the La Nkwantanang Madina Municipal Assembly, Lambert Kwara, in an interview, highlights on the case.
“The accused person is a 62-year-old woman and owner of the house situated at Libya Quarters, a suburb of Madina. On the 3rd day of June this year, two lady occupants of the premises of the landlady were captured in a video dumping refuse from sacks on the road in the neighborhood when it was raining.”
By Marshall Bobobee|3news.com|Ghana