Paintsil's wife drops case

Accra, Ghana - The wife and a neighbour of Ghana international footballer John Paintsil have both withdrawn complaints against him in relation to a domestic incident last week, police said on Wednesday.

Deputy Superintendent Freeman Tetteh said Paintsil had been accused of causing harm to his wife, Richlove, and assaulting the neighbour at the footballer's home in Accra on Friday. Tetteh wouldn't comment on reports that Paintsil had allegedly stabbed his wife in the eye in the incident.

Both dropped their cases against the former West Ham and Fulham defender, Tetteh said, although police had taken statements from Paintsil's wife and the unnamed neighbour, who contacted the police. Tetteh said that "no one can deny" there was an incident at the house. The police spokesman would not give any more details of the incident.

Paintsil was also hospitalised on Tuesday because of "exhaustion and dehydration," a spokesman for the player said, but was released later the same day.

"The past five days have taken a severe emotional toll on the entire Paintsil family, Richlove and John especially, and that toll manifested itself in the unfortunate incident this morning," said a statement from Ebenezer Aidoo, who identified himself as Paintsil's media adviser.

Aidoo said Paintsil's family had asked for privacy "during this difficult time."

Painstil, who is now at Israeli club Hapoel Tel Aviv, played for Ghana at the recent African Cup of Nations in South Africa, where the Black Stars lost in a penalty shootout to Burkina Faso in the semi-finals.

During the tournament, the Ghana Football Association was forced to deny media reports that the team had attempted to bribe an opposition player to underperform ahead of a group game against Niger. The GFA also said last week that reports of prostitutes visiting Ghana players at their team camp during the Cup of Nations were false.

"At no point in time was any player found guilty of entertaining unwanted guests," the GFA said.