COURT CAUTIONS APONKYE SPOT PROPREITOR, DAILY GRAPHIC, JUNE 8, 2011 (CENTRE SPREAD)

Story: Della Russel Ocloo

The District Magistrate’s Motor and Traffic Court, presided over by Mr Emmanuel Barte Brew Plange, has cautioned and discharged an Accra businessman, Mr Seth Lartey, on two counts of causing distraction and public nuisance to the motoring public.
The accused, who is the proprietor of Aponkye Spot, a popular drinking bar located in Adabraka, a suburb of Accra, was arrested by personnel of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Police Service following his refusal to heed warnings by the unit to prevent creating obstruction and nuisance to the motoring public.
The accused was cautioned by the court to limit operations of the bar within his periphery, while ensuring an over-sight responsibility for the crowds that visit his bar from irritating road users.
Similarly, Mr Lartey was tasked to avoid mounting canopies along the pedestrian walkway, while minimising noise levels within the business environment.
According to the prosecutor, L/Cpl Dramani, the accused, who operates a drinking spot along the major road from Accra linking Kaneshie from the Farisco Traffic Light Intersection to the Graphic Road at weekends and on public holidays, normally mounted canopies on both sides of the pedestrian walkway to serve his customers.
The situation, he said, had led to customers of the bar virtually taking over one half of the main road where they parked their vehicles.
He said often between 7 p.m. and 12 a.m., some customers paraded the premises partly naked, and exhibited their dancing skills to loud music from giant sound systems mounted there, thereby creating chaos and rendering impossible passage by road users.
L/Cpl Dramani said following persistent complaints from the general public, Mr Lartey was invited by the Commanding Officer of the MTTU, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Angwubutoge Awuni, who cautioned him, but Mr Lartey failed to heed the verbal caution.
Later in an interview with the Daily Graphic, ACP Awuni said the action was taken against Mr Lartey to serve as a deterrent to others who engaged in such illegalities, such as creating blockades along major streets for the purposes of funerals and other social gatherings.