Defecating drug suspect clears Ghanaian courtroom

An unbearable foul stench enveloped an Accra Circuit courtroom during proceedings when Reindolf King Kumodzi, the 27-year-old accused, defecated on himself. The offensive smell caused all the people in the courtroom, including the trial judge, Eric Kyei Bafour, to hold their noses in order not to inhale the stench.

People who were sitting near the door managed to rush out of the courtroom. The dramatic scene took police and other officers of the court by surprise, so the judge adjourned the case and immediately Kumodzi was ushered out of the courtroom. Kumodzi, a refuse collector, was in court to answer a charge of possession of narcotic drugs without lawful authority.



When his case was called, the accused, who by then had defecated into his trousers and was behaving abnormally, stood up, saluted the judge and attempted to walk straight to him, but he was prevented by a police officer as the stench was too much for the judge to bear.

The judge, holding his nose, asked the investigator if the accused was normal, to which he responded that he was very sound. Kumodzi's abnormal behaviour stopped the court from taking his plea on the narcotic charge. Mr. Kyei Bafour then adjourned the case to May 11, 2011 with an order for him to be sent to the psychiatric hospital for examination.