Elrad Amoako was also convicted on charges of negligently causing harm, dangerous driving, and driving without a licence.
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The 16-year-old was to be held at the Senior Correctional Centre. As part of his sentence, he signed a bond not to drive a vehicle till he turned 18.
His father, Ghanaian prophet Salifu Amoako, and his mother, Mouha, were fined Ghc 12,000 each for failure to properly control their son and to pay for damages that occurred during the crash, including the destruction of a light pole valued at over Ghc 8,000.
Background
An accident occurred on Saturday, October 12, 2024, when a Jaguar F-Pace sport driven by Elrad Amoako was speeding through East Legon when it slammed into the back of an Acura, driven by one Joseph Ackah.
The impact sent the two cars through an intersection into the wall of a nearby house. The force was so violent that it destroyed a nearby ECG pole, which landed on the cars and ignited a fire.
Elrad Amoako and a friend, a passenger in his car, managed to escape. The two teenage girls, Maame Dwomoh and Justine Agbenu – were tragically trapped in the Acura and burnt to death despite attempts by passers-by to douse the flames. Ackah and a toddler in the Acura were rescued prior to it completely catching fire.
The case set off an outcry in the country after it emerged that the offending driver was a juvenile and the son of a famous pastor. CCTV footage of the accident further inflamed tensions as Elrad was seen recklessly speeding in the streets of East Legon.
Old videos of Salifu Amoako bragging about being so powerful that no police officer in the country could stop him when driving surfaced on social media, raising questions about how his behaviour might have rubbed off on his kids.
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After intense public outcry, Elrad Amoako was arrested. His parents and their domestic servant, who is accused of giving the keys to Amoako’s wife’s Jaguar to the underage son, were also arrested.
Detention drama
After the arrest of Elrad Amoako, questions emerged about where he was being held in detention or whether he was getting favourable treatment as the son of a very famous and self-admittedly powerful preacher.
Speculations ran wilder after a social worker alleged that Elrad was not in custody at the only correctional facility mandated by law for juvenile offenders on remand to be kept, despite police claims to the contrary.
Court case
Elrad was dragged before court in November 2024, where the prosecution laid out its facts of the case.
According to the prosecution, Elrad was at a family birthday party for his elder brother when he asked his mother’s domestic assistant for the keys to her Jaguar.
Despite being only 16 and legally not allowed to drive, the domestic worker gave Elrad the key, and he drove away with the car.
He reportedly met some friends at the A&C Mall, and they set off in a convoy of cars.
Elrad is accused of speeding down the Dzane-Ashie Road and causing the collision that killed the two 12-year-old girls.
Amoako initially pleaded not guilty but later changed his plea to guilty and was convicted on his own plea.
He was sentenced to six months in prison, which is the maximum sentence allowed by law for juveniles accused of manslaughter.
The victims
The two 12-year-old girls killed in the crash were identified as Maame Dwomoh and Justine Agbenu.
The two girls were laid to rest by their families in separate funerals – Dwomoh was buried on Saturday, October 19th, 2024, while Agbenu went home on Wednesday, October 23, 2024. Following their deaths, it emerged that both girls held dual citizenship – Dwomoh held American citizenship aside from her Ghanaian nationality, and Agbenu had reportedly secured Canadian citizenship three weeks prior to the crash that took her life.
Amoako speaks
In the wake of the outcry that emerged following his son’s actions, Bishop Salifu Amoako, who is the founder and leader of the Alive Chapel International, sparked more controversy with a staunch defence of his son’s irresponsible actions.
Speaking during a Sunday, October 20, 2024, sermon at his church, he said the noise around his son is too much because the boy is not a criminal.
“It was an accident,” he said. “My son did not carry a gun to kill anybody. He involved himself in a terrible accident, and I am not the one who did it, nor his mother. It is my name, that is why people are talking,” he said.
He added that the incident would not have been newsworthy if it had involved an ordinary person instead of his son.
