An Abeka-Lapaz based businessman, Kwadwo Gyamfi, who pirated the songs of Amakye Dede and Kojo Antwi was last Monday sentenced to two years imprisonment by an Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) court.
The court presided over by his Worship, Mr. Emmanuel Nana Antwi Barima,had earlier fined Mr. Gyamfi GH?6,000 but the failure of the accused to pay the fineled to his imprisonment.
The accused person pleaded guilty to charges of false pretense and illegally reproducing and distributing without permission, the music of Amakye Dede, Kojo Antwi and other musicians contrary to the Copyright Law.
The judge consequently convicted the accused person on his own plea and sentenced him accordingly.
Six other accused persons who were also arrested by the Ghana Musicians Rights Organisation (GHAMRO) Taskforce, at Lapaz and Achimota for their alleged involvement in music pirating are currently standing trial at the AMA court.
They include Louis Ahiable, Sampson Amegbletor, Justice Oppong,Yaw Asante, Yaw Mark, and Nicholas Nuamah.
Their plea of not guilty to the charges of pirating was not accepted so they were ordered to enter into full scale trial.
Against this backdrop, the accused persons were granted bail to reappear before the court on Wednesday, March 27, 2013.
The prosecutor, Sergeant Kingsley Oppong, told the court that the accused persons were ?caught red-handed? by GHAMARO taskforce in an operation at Lapaz and Achimota respectively of pirating the works of artistes.
The prosecutor revealed that the computers and systems that the accused persons used in their ?job? was also seized and exhibited in court as evidence.
He said the operation was also filmed for evidence purposes.
But in a quick rebuttal, the defense counsel for the accused persons, Mr. Frank Yankey, argued that his clients are ignorant of the charges preferred against them.
According to him, on the day of the arrest, the accused persons were at the scene to repair their computers.
The National Chairman of GHAMRO, Mr. Carlos Sakyi, in an interview with Today lamented the increasing rate of piratingby middlemen in the country, a situation, he said, has rendered aged musicians very poor ?because their works are not being patronised.
He said the pirates will be put under intense pressure to stop them from rendering musicians poor through feeding on their intellectual property and sweat.
Mr. Sakyi assured of GHAMRO?s commitment to extend the war on pirates to all the corners of the country to help flush out the middle men and women.
STORY: BERNARD QUANSON
