Three persons, including two Fulani herdsmen, have been convicted by the Juaso Circuit Court for allowing their cattle to graze in the North Bandai Forest Reserve at Kansano, near Agogo in the Asante Akim North District.
The presiding judge, Mr Fred Tetteh, fined each of them GH¢1,800 in default of which they would each serve 18 months imprisonment.
The fine, according to the judge, was to deter others from trespassing on forest reserves.
The convicts, Mohammed Yaro, 29, and Amadu Huseini, 21, the herdsmen, as well as Emmanuel Amewuga, 48, a farmer from Agogo, pleaded guilty to two counts of pasturing cattle in a forest reserve and abetment to commit crime.
Prosecuting, Chief Inspector Thomas Obuor told the court that on January 19, 2016, the three were arrested by forest guards and handed over to the police after they allowed their cattle to graze in the reserve in contravention of the Forest Protection Decree 1974, which was amended in 2002.
He said after investigations, the three were charged to deter other herdsmen from flouting the law barring people from trespassing on forest reserves.
