How a teacher who was wrongfully jailed 20 years for defilement was saved by Martin Kpebu

The story of how a teacher who was wrongfully jailed for 20 years for defilement was saved by Martin Kpebu has not only touched many but has also angered many more.

He was wrongfully convicted of defilement as a teacher. Mr. Maxwell Bernieh had spent less than a month in a new school as a teacher when the sad false accusation came.

As a teacher in a school located in Takoradi, in the Western Region, Maxwell revealed he never expected such an unfortunate incident to occur.

According to Maxwell Bernieh, about a month to the end of his first term in the school, he reported to school only to be dragged to the police station over something he knew nothing about.

It was at the Police Station that he was informed that someone had lodged a complaint of defilement against him. This was the beginning of the undeserved pain, ridicule, and suffering he never deserved in any measure.

He added that while narrating the sad ordeal that he had to be in court, back to remind for seven months all in an attempt to clear his name and prove his innocence which never achieved the desired goal.

In court, the innocent teacher pleaded not guilty at his trial leading to the seven months trial.

“A month into my arrival in the school, we were getting ready for exams so I had submitted the questions for the exam. I was in the office when two ladies and a guy came ordering me to get into a waiting taxi to the police station. When we got to the station, they told me I had defiled one of the students.

“It wasn’t true because I had just arrived at the school and didn’t know a lot about the children. This particular girl was in class five and I was handling primary 4. I knew her face but didn’t know her name. The story was sent to DOVVSU and we went to court. It happened in 2015. I was charged with defilement and I pleaded not guilty. The trial took seven months and I was on remand throughout the period. She claims I defiled her in the school’s urinal during extra class hours,” he narrated to Takoradi-based Connect FM.

Mr. Maxwell Bernieh’s not guilty stand never helped to clear his name and give him his freedom bank as the court pronounced judgment and slapped him with twenty-year imprisonment even after a constant plea of being innocent.

“The judgment came in July 2016 and the court handed me a 20-year sentence. I raised my hand and told the judge that it is not true but the judge said that I could appeal. I don’t know why the judge sentenced me. I was lucky to have the proceedings of the Circuit Court.”

He served 6 years out of the 20 years jail term but got the chance to successfully appealed the sentence through private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu at the Sekondi High Court.

Through the efforts of private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu, Mr. Maxwell Bernieh’s application was upheld and he was released from prison. He is grateful to God and Martin Kpebu who he says trusted him to fight his case for him.

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“I was in Nsawam for some time. There was a CID officer who was not happy with the whole thing. I had a lady friend and I told her to send my document to Martin Kpebu. I knew Kpebu from the media and I felt he was a good lawyer. I told him that I was innocent and wanted him to challenge the case. By the time I got to find Kpebu I had already spent six years. The High Court ruled that I was innocent and that I should have never been jailed,” he said.

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He served a word of advice to all men and asked them to be careful with passing sexually suggestive remarks about the ladies in the form of jokes.