Anthony Collins defends Baptist Church against ex-footballer's claims
Anthony Collins Solicitors is set to defend the Baptist Church against a £10m claim launched by a retired footballer who claims his faith stopped him playing for Manchester United.
Helen Tucker
Partner Helen Tucker has been instructed by the Baptist Union of Great Britain secretary Jonathan Edwards after papers were filed at the High Court by former semi-professional Portugese national Arquimedes De Jesus Nganga.
According to the claim form, 46-year-old Nganga, of Forest Hill in London, has accused the church of conspiracy to defraud him of his finances, time and life, for 19 years.
He claims that the Bible is a “book of fraud”, that Adam and Eve are “fictional characters”, and that quitting football to follow “false beliefs” aged 25 in 1990 while playing for lower league side Mortagua in Portugal, cost him a £20,000 a week salary.
Nganga is claiming damages for stress, psychological harm, family harm, social harm, his university education suffering and physical injury - saying he was attacked by people he was trying to convert and kicked in the knee, breaking his cartilage.
It is understood that Nganga will appear as a litigant in person. Tucker at Anthony Collins has not yet instructed counsel.
The church has said it will “vigorously contest” the claim.
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Readers' comments (14)
marshall whittaker | 13-Mar-2012 12:25 pm
I am sure the church will be applying to have this action struck out - what a farce
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Abraham Thunderwolf | 13-Mar-2012 4:16 pm
I too would have made it, but for the church. I was forced to retire at the age of 3 when a vicar explained to me that professional football is a precarious career option.
Eleven years later I developed very firm thighs and excellent arial prowess. Alas, neither of these proved particularly useful in the textile business.
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Anonymous | 13-Mar-2012 9:54 pm
How is this a story? Most clients have been served with absurd claims that get struck out that are just as or more ridiculous than this. Never heard of this firm and this is the easiest defence job going.
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Anon e Mouse | 14-Mar-2012 11:06 am
Anonymous | 13-Mar-2012 9:54 pm
Agreed. This is nonsense. It's purely because this litigant mentions football that it makes the press. I once had a claim struck out by a litigant in person who claimed the CIA were trying to contact him via the TV! Funnily enough, it doesn't appear on my CV!
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Rural Bliss | 14-Mar-2012 2:38 pm
He should get Alexander Mercouris to represent him - http://www.thelawyer.com/barrister-who-forged-baroness-hales-signature-struck-off-by-bsb/1011771.article
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Osita Michael Onwugbufor | 14-Mar-2012 4:42 pm
I quit the Catholic Church I was born into to become a Jehovah's Witness at the age of 15/16 but will not blame anyone for any reason. Religion is a personal thing and it is done willingly and without coarsion. You are ultimately responsible for your personal lbeliefs. Hence the need to "make sure of all things" and hold onto the one you consider to be good for you. No Church can force a 25 year old footballer to join them. This looks like an easy case to defend.
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James Watthey | 14-Mar-2012 4:57 pm
Hang on a minute.. isn't this story from Ally McBeal?
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Anonymous | 14-Mar-2012 10:52 pm
I think he would have a better claim for brainwashing if he was subjected to regular sunday morning sermons. While he is responsible for his own beliefs it is a relief to see in print what every rational and educated person knows: that the Bible is a load of faerie tales written at a time when the only way to control the mob was to scare them into submission with the threat of an eternal life burning in hell. I personally would love to see the validity of the bible and its so called teachings tested in the court and all those that peddle it and make a fortune in the process, tried for running cults.
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Thomas Jefferson | 15-Mar-2012 3:11 am
Is this really a case in the technical term? Retroactive damages for bad options in the professional life due to a lack of informed decision making process due to possible long-term mental incapacity? Are we in the nonsense era lacking everyone's common sense to make news especially among high intellectual elite once and generally called attorneys at law, re barristers and solicitors, to read about insane litigators, who may have read upside down Franz Kafka's The trial's book?
Absolutely waste of precious court time, proceedings and taxpayer's money in recession times.
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Ovo Okagbare | 15-Mar-2012 5:45 am
This is a vexacious and frivolous suit. I hope the church recovers the cost of the suit against him at the end of it all.
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