Two Rastafarians who claimed they used Indian hemp as food and medicine, have been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment in hard labour by the Ho Circuit Court.
The two convicts, Priest Yaw Bobo, 38, and Priest Jah Soldier, 26, who told the court that they were priests of “The Temple of Jah”, pleaded not guilty to the two charges of conspiracy to commit crime and cultivating Indian hemp.
The court, presided over by Mr Justice Frank Owusu Afriyie, however, found them guilty of the offences and convicted and sentenced them accordingly on each count to run concurrently.
The court further ordered that the Indian hemp should be destroyed in the presence of the police prosecutor and the court registrar.
Prosecuting, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Kwadwo Nkansah told the court that Bobo and Jah Soldier were arrested by the chiefs and elders of the Amedzofe Traditional Area on April 27, 2009 upon a tip-off.
The chiefs and elders took them and Indian hemp that the two had harvested to the Police District Command at Anyirawase where the suspects were detained for investigation.
Then on August 29, 2009, the police led a search party to their house and farm at Amedzofe where they discovered the Indian hemp the two had cultivated.
According to the prosecutor, the two priests claimed that they used the hemp as their means of livelihood, adding that they did not know that cultivation of the Indian hemp was a crime, since they and their relatives used them for food and medicine.
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