On Monday, July 7, the presiding judge, Mary Ekue Yanzuh, rejected a submission of no case filed by the legal team of Nana Agradaa, the former fetish priestess turned evangelist, and directed her to open her defense.
Agradaa’s lawyers, led by Richard Baffour, informed the court that she was currently in custody and requested that proceedings be postponed until she could be physically present for the ruling.
“My Lord, we pray that your ruling be delivered in her presence. We ask for an adjournment and an order for her to be brought to court,” Baffour appealed.
However, Justice Yanzuh declined the request and went ahead with the ruling in Agradaa’s absence. She also instructed prison authorities to ensure that Agradaa is brought to court on the next adjourned date, and ordered the defense to file their witness statements before that session.
The case has been adjourned to July 30 for a case management conference.
Agradaa, born Patricia Asieduaa, faces one count of possession of obscene material and three counts of non-consensual sharing of intimate images.
Three others—Enoch Owusu Kissi, Charles Omane, and Emmanuel Kofi Gyasi—are also charged with abetment of crime in relation to the unauthorized sharing of the same images and are expected to open their defense as well.
According to the prosecution, the incident occurred in 2021, when Agradaa allegedly used her TV platform, Thunder TV (now Today’s TV), to publicly display the nude images of Prophet Emmanuel Appiah Fomum.
“The first accused, Nana Agradaa, shared and aired the complainant’s nude images during a live program. She also allegedly used the images as part of a product label for a drink being advertised on Thunder TV,” the prosecution stated.
The co-accused are alleged to have made derogatory remarks about the complainant during the broadcast, while one of Agradaa’s employees was instructed to publish the nude images.
