Manasseh Azure and Seth Duncan
The motive for Manasseh Azure’s failure to exhibit a letter he was relying on for his defence in a defamation suit against him and three others was questioned by counsel for Lighthouse Chapel International (LCI), Kweku Paintsil, during cross-examination at the High Court.
The said letter forms part of the defence of Manasseh Azure, Edwin Appiah, Sulemana Braimah, and Media Foundation for West Africa, who are in court over their publication of three articles titled “Darkness in a Lighthouse.”
Marcel Aboagye, the witness for LCI, had earlier accused the defendants of mischievously deciding not to exhibit that letter even though it was a major part of their defence, saying the defendants know that large portions of the publications have no connection with the letter.
It was based on this that counsel for LCI, Paintsil, asked Manasseh why he had hidden the letter from the court although he relied on it as a defence.
Manasseh responded that it was an oversight.
Counsel then applied to the court to order Manasseh to produce the letter to the court. The application was granted.
Manasseh Azure then produced the letter on the next adjourned date.
The defendants have been dragged to court over what the LCI has described as defamatory publications against the church.
All four defendants have already been convicted of contempt of court for the publication of the articles.
It is the defence of the four that they wrote to LCI about allegations made against the church by former pastors of the church before publishing their stories.
The former pastors are Larry Odonkor, Emmanuel Oko Mensah, Edward Laryea, Seth Duncan, Edem Amankwah, and Faith Fiakojo.
Cross-examination of Manasseh continued on the 13th, 15th, and 18th of November 2024 before Justice Joseph Adu-Owusu Agyemang in the General Jurisdiction, Division 13 of the High Court, in the case in which Manasseh is represented by Lawyer Samson Lardi Anyenini.
Following the production of the letter, Manasseh was questioned on the publication he made that the LCI had so maltreated Seth Duncan, one of the former pastors, that he was pushed to attempt suicide at least three times, including cutting his scrotum.
Counsel put it to him that the specific allegation of the suicide attempts and its link to the church were not contained in the letter.
The publication further said Seth Duncan went to the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital after he cut his scrotum.
Manasseh was asked whether, as an investigative journalist, he requested a medical report from either Seth Duncan or the Bolgatanga Hospital to “verify this huge allegation.”
He responded that Seth Duncan did not have “a lot of documents or receipts because it had been over a long period of time” and that Manasseh didn’t request proof from the hospital because “per my experience as a journalist, they do not release third-party information.”
Paintsil pushed Manasseh further: “You claim you are an investigative journalist and were desirous of publishing the truth of a story you had been told, but you could not tell the storyteller to procure the evidence from the hospital before you published?”
Manasseh answered that he had “no reason to doubt that he (Seth Duncan) had gone through what he said he went through.”
Counsel then asked Manasseh whether he (Manasseh) had a scrotum, to which he responded in the affirmative. Then he was asked whether Seth Duncan told him which part of the scrotum he cut, and he said no.
Counsel then fired at Manasseh that what is clear is that “by the time of the publication, you never confronted Seth Duncan with the specifics of the allegation.”
Manasseh answered that he did, “but journalists are trained to be very sensitive when interviewing or reporting on people who have suffered psychological or emotional trauma.”
Paintsil then countered him that what he is saying means that when he is doing a story arising from alleged traumatic experiences, “it is only the interest of the alleged victim that weighs on your mind and not the image of the alleged perpetrator.”
Manasseh responds that it is not so.
The case was adjourned to the 21st, 23rd, 28th, and 31st of January 2025 for continuation of the cross-examination.
