An entertainment journalist Anthony Osarfo on Friday, December 8, 2023, secured a landmark victory in court against former Ghana striker Asamoah Gyan. The case which traveled for years finally ended on Friday at the Accra High Court following the fulling of Justice Dr Ernest Owusu Dapaa.
According to the ruling, the ex-Black Stars captain will doll out GH¢1,071,000 to the journalist for damages and other related issues due to false prosecution. Of the amount, GH¢900,000 is to be paid as damages and GH¢111,000 for 111 months that the plaintiff lost his job as a result of the prosecution by Gyan. Also, Gyan will pay GH¢60,000 in additional costs awarded against him and his manager, Samuel Anim Addo by the court.
Background of the case
In 2015, a law student Sarah Kwablah alleged that the then Shanghai SIPG striker raped and sodomized her and that also resulted in a pregnancy. Investigations began into the case but the striker was later cleared by the Police CID.
“We were called to the headquarters of the CID and informed that after a careful study of the docket, the Attorney General has concluded the rape and unnatural canal knowledge made by Sarah Kwablah against Asamoah Gyan are totally baseless.
“The docket must be closed, in plain language Asamoah Gyan has been cleared of all allegations by Kwablah,” the lawyer for Asamoah Gyan Kissi Agyebeng stated at the time.
Asamoah Gyan then turned the case against Sarah Kwablah and three others, accusing them of extortion. Police arrested Anthony Osarfo together with Chris Handler (Blogger), Sarah Kwablah (Law Student), and Ekow Micah (Musician) on charges of extortion and conspiracy to commit crime. After years in court, the case was thrown out by a Circuit Court in Accra presided over by her honour Mrs Afi Agbanu Kudomor for following a no-case submission by lawyers for the accused. According to the court, the complainant could not establish prima facie evidence against the accused persons that they actually committed the crimes they were accused of.
The case against Asamoah Gyan
Following the conclusion of the case at the circuit court, Anthony Osarfo proceeded to the Accra High Court with his own case against Asamoah Gyan and his manager Samuel Anim Addo. He said Asamoah Gyan and his manager’s accusation of extortion and conspiracy against him was “false and without basis.”
In his statement of claim, he said, Samuel Anim Addo, the manager of Asamoah “provided the investigator [Police] with his witness statement, which he swore an oath of proof to suggest that his statement was true to the best of his ability and belief, when he very well knew that the statement he was offering to the police was false and without foundation but went ahead with malice and provided the same.”
According to Osarfo, Anim Addo swore an oath to testify against him in court despite knowing that the accusation was untrue. He added that Anim Addo had the chance to “tell the truth to end the malicious prosecution” against him [Anthony Osarfo] but “failed to take the opportunities”.
Due to the failure of Anim Addo to state the truth when he had the opportunity, “the story was reported in various media outlets portraying the plaintiff as a venal and damaging his reputation and integrity in the community and as a professional journalist,” the suit stated.
Additionally, the suit stated that “with malice, the defendants withheld information from the prosecutors, which would have ended the prosecution of the plaintiff and exonerate him but intentionally failed to do so”.
In his ruling, Justice Dr Ernest Owusu Dapaa, a Court of Appeal judge sitting with additional responsibility as a High Court judge said the plaintiff proved beyond doubt that he was never extorting money from the defendant. The ruling also said Samuel Anim Addo’s report to the Airport Police was false and that Anthony Osarfo was maliciously prosecuted.
While Asamoah Gyan was not present in Court, his manager, Samuel Anim Addo was present as well as the plaintiff, Anthony Osarfo and his lawyers, according to a Graphic Online report.
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