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The Accra High Court has sentenced a Fire Service Officer, Emmanuel Ayitah Quansah, to two days imprisonment for beating a court bailiff.
Ayitah was found guilty of contempt of court for beating the bailiff who wanted to serve him with documents in a civil case.
The court presided over by Justice Sarah Aryee, held that assault on judicial officers must not be encouraged.
“Counsel for the Judicial Service has informed the court about how bailiffs are constantly assaulted. This canker has to be nibbed in the bud. The respondent is found guilty of contempt of court since he failed to purge himself when the court gave him the opportunity to do so before the court. The respondent is sentenced to a custodial sentence of two days imprisonment.”
According to the facts of the case, Mr. Quansah teamed up with his household to beat up the bailiff who was performing his official duties.
The bailiff was to serve some processes on the fireman in an ongoing case before the court, but Mr. Quansah refused to accept the processes.
“The bailiff [then] threw it at him. The respondent [then] decided to beat him up,” the documents from the court read.
According to the fire officer, he took matters into his own hands and dealt with the bailiff because the latter “should have served him in his office [instead].”
But the judge, Her Ladyship Justice Sarah Aryee, in her ruling on Tuesday, July 4, 2023, said even if the bailiff erred in serving him the processes in his house instead of the office, the fire officer breached the law by unleashing mayhem on the court official.
She thus handed the fire officer a two-day custodial sentence.
