Kofi Opare Hagan, a UK-based lawyer, has shed more light on why former Black Stars captain Asamoah Gyan was slapped with GH1 million in damages over a malicious prosecution.
On Friday, December 8, 2023, a court in Accra ordered Asamoah Gyan was Slapped to pay GH1,071,000 to Anthony Osarfo, a popular entertainment journalist. The judge was Dr Ernest Owusu-Dapaa.
The court entered judgment in the sum of, GH¢900,000 in damages for the plaintiff.
The court additionally awarded the plaintiff GH¢111,000 for the 111 months that he lost his job, which was paying him GH¢1,000 at the time. A cost of GH¢60,000 was also awarded against Asamoah Gyan and his manager, bringing the total to GH¢1,071,000 against the defendants (The Black Stars Captain Asamoah Gyan and Samuel Anim Addo).
Reacting to the judgment, on his Facebook wall, the outspoken lawyer wrote,“ A journalist starts publishing stories that Asamoah Gyan has raped Sarah Kwablah. Asamoah Gyan then offers to pay the journalist money to stop the publication.
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His manager meets with the journalist, ostensibly to pay him the money. The manager, however, goes along with the police, who arrest the journalist and charge him with extortion.
The charge isn’t based on any proper investigations, but on what they were told by Asamoah Gyan and their manager. Beyond that, the manager faithfully attends the trial and gives evidence against the journalist. It was later found out that his evidence was false. Asamoah Gyan and his manager therefore used the police as ‘mere robots’ to execute their own power play. This is why they were found liable for malicious prosecution.”