FAKE FILM DIRECTOR JAILED FOR STEALING (MIRROR, DEC 31, 2010, PAGE 21)

From Collins Agyekum-Gyasi, Kumasi.

A KUMASI Circuit Court has convicted a self-styled movie director who craftily managed to deceive a student and succeeded in bolting away with her Laptop and a mobile phone.
James Kelvin Asante, pleaded not guilty to stealing the items valued at GH¢1,520 but was found guilty by the court.
Presenting the facts of the case to the court, presided over by Mr Emmanuel Amo-Yartey, the Police Prosecutor, Chief Inspector Comfort Baffour-Kyei, said Asante, lived in Accra and on September 13, last year, approached a witness in the case, Ms Benelyn Ofei, a student of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), that he needed someone to play an acting role in a film he was working on.
Ms Ofei, who looked at the story with a cold attitude, called in her roommate, the complainant, to meet the convict if she was interested.
The prosecutor said the complainant, after hearing the story from Asante, showed interest to feature in the said film and said that she was ready to play any role.
Asante allegedly told the complainant that one Yvonne Forson had disappointed him (Asante), hence his desire to look for a substitute actress.
The prosecutor said: “ The convict directed her (the complainant) to bring along her laptop and phone so that he could copy the script onto the laptop for her to study it. With regard to the phone, he purported to store his number on it for her to give him a call if she encountered any difficulty.”
On the complainant’s return with the items, Asante allegedly collected them and sent her to meet some film stars at the Unity Hall and sign an entry form. She rushed to the Hall but met none of the alleged film stars.
Ms Baffour-Kyei said the complainant returned to report to Asante but he too had disappeared with her laptop and the Nokia phone.
She said three days later, she saw Asante on the university campus and reported the matter to the KNUST Security personnel who arrested and handed him over to the KNUST police. After investigations, he was charged with the crime.