William Des Bordes "Lovin Cee" in another trouble with the law
Kumasi Radio presenter, William Des Bordes a.k.a. “Lovin Cee” is in trouble again with the law.
He was arrested and charged with assault by the Police last Thursday and was indeed detained in police custody for some hours before being granted a police enquiry bail at the sum of GH¢2000 and to report periodically to the police.
He was said to have assaulted Mr Richard Karikari, a.k.a. K.K. a radio presenter at Otec FM also in Kumasi.
Des Bordes had reported at the Central Police Motor Transport and Traffic Unit (MTTU) where the police were investigating a motor accident case which involved him.
However, during deliberations at the police station, Des Bordes was said to have become aggressive and assaulted Mr Karikari by slapping him in the face in the presence of the police officers.
Inspector Yusif Mohammed Tanko of the Ashanti Regional Police Public Affairs Unit who confirmed the incident to the Graphic Showbiz said the complainant in the accident case, one Owusu happened to be the nephew of Mr Karikari so the victim had accompanied the complainant to the police station.
But during the deliberations as part of the investigations, Des Bordes became aggressive and slapped Karikari in the face.
Inspector Tanko said the Central MTTU Station Officer, Chief Inspector Larbi in whose presence the incident occurred was then compelled to cause the arrest of Des Bordes and handed him over to the Central police for assault proceedings to be initiated against him.
He said a formal complaint was then lodged by Mr Karikari and he was issued with a medical form to attend hospital where he was treated and discharged same day.
However, Inspector Tanko said Des Bordes was detained until later in the day where he was granted the Police enquiry bail with the sum of GH¢2000 and to report periodically to the police.
Meanwhile Mr Karikari had indicated his willingness not to drag the matter of assault further but want an out of court amicable settlement. He made this known when the Graphic Showbiz contacted him on telephone.
However, on the substantive case of accident, it was learnt that the police have asked Mr Des Bordes to report with his vehicle, a 4X4 Lexus at the police station as part of the investigations.
The accident was said to have happened about two weeks ago at about 10:30pm on the Asafo-UTC Interchange but just as the other party (Owusu) was insisting that the matter should be reported to the police, Des Bordes was said to have sped off with his vehicle.
The complainant (Owusu) alleged that Des Bordes’ vehicle had no registration number neither did it carry a “DV” licensed plate at the time of the accident.
Lovin Cee in July 2008 had a brush with the law as he was remanded into prison custody by the Ashanti New Town Magistrate Court where he appeared to answer a substantive case of defrauding by false pretences.
He was accused of defrauding the managers of Cedar Crescent Hotel by false pretence and the case has been pending since. The case has however been withdrawn from the Magistrate Court and transferred to Kumasi Circuit Court One Presided over by Mr Amo Yartey.
This followed a petition to the Attorney General’s Department which culminated in the police conducting further investigations into the matter to facilitate the prosecution.
When the case was called on Tuesday March 10, 2009 at the Circuit Court, an additional count of assault was added to the initial charge of defrauding by false pretence and the accused pleaded not guilty to both charges.
Giving brief facts in court, the Prosecutor, Chief Inspector A. K. Fandoh said the accused had lodged at the Cedar Crescent Hotel and had accumulated a bill of GH¢6940 but refused to pay on the day he was checking out of the hotel.
He said the accused assaulted the Manager of the hotel, Ruth Naa Bekoe on the day he was checking out.
The prosecutor said whilst the case was being tried at the Ashanti New Town Magistrate Court the Attorney General was petitioned which culminated in further investigations into the case.
He said even though the accused claimed his employers, Deutsche Welle (DW) Radio were to pay his bills investigations and checks with DW have indicated that they have no commitments with the accused in that regard.
Chief Inspector Fandoh said the case was therefore withdrawn from the Magistrate Court and the accused was served with criminal summons to appear at the Circuit Court.
Counsel for the accused argued that the facts presented by the prosecution were not correct.
He said the accused have an agreement with DW and he is to work for them as correspondent in Ghana and in some other African countries.
Counsel said DW was to foot the hotel bills of the accused but due to some bureaucracies payments delayed.
Again, he said the hotel management prepared a bill far in excess of what the accused was to pay on the day he was checking out which culminated in the accused refusing to pay the bills until the right bill was prepared for him.
The Judge adjoined the case to April 3, 2009 and granted the accused bail in the sum of GH¢10,000.
Before joining Angel FM last year as a presenter of the Drive Time programme, Des Bordes worked with Deutsche Welle and had been excelling on the radio scenes on the global level as far as his five year stint with DW was concerned. His contract with DW expired at the end of 2007.
At DW he was the host of the 30-minute daily current affairs programme Newslink Africa. Sports coverage in Africa was also part of his duty depending on the importance of the event and he worked with greats like Tony Durnham, Rick Demarest, Brian Pickering, Diet Simon, Meggin Leigh Doody and Ian Johnson among others in Deutsche Welle which really enriched his presentation.
During his radio days in Kumasi before moving to DW, William was the anchor man at Kapital Radio