Court grants 5 police ‘robbers’ GH₵ 80,000 bail
They have been charged with conspiracy, robbery, and conspiracy to commit a crime by giving bribe to influence a public officer
A Circuit court in Accra has granted bail to five policemen who allegedly robbed a student of GH¢ 20,000 at gunpoint at East Legon in Accra.
The accused persons are General Constables Wishwell Odoo, Evans Amwagsi, Lawat Agyapong,Sena Kuvordo, and General Lance Corporal Redeemer Agama. They have been charged with conspiracy, robbery, and conspiracy to commit a crime by giving bribe to influence a public officer.
They have however been granted bail in the sum of GH¢ 80,000 with three sureties following a bail application by their lawyer.
Two of the sureties must be public servants earning not less than GH¢ 2,000 a month as part of their bail conditions.
The court, presided by Mrs. Rosemond Torsu said the accused persons are to reappear at the court on July 13, 2021.
The alleged policemen who are from the National Deployment Force (RDF) at the National headquarters, are said to have also offered their case investigator a GH¢2,500 bribe to cover them up in the matter.
They however pleaded not guilty to the charges leveled against them when they appeared in court.
The facts of the case according to the prosecutor, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Evans Kesse, was that the complainant, Jeffery Mackeon Yeboah, was a student and a businessman, while the accused persons who were with the RDF Unit, usually performed vehicular patrol duties.
Furthermore, the prosecutor said on May 24 this year at about 0200 hours, the complainant was on board an Uber around the University of Professional Studies, Accra, when the accused persons were on Operation Calm Life Police Service vehicle with arms meant for night patrol.
According to him, the policemen forced the victim into a police patrol vehicle and accused him of scamming.
The accused policemen threatened the complainant with harm and asked the complainant to hand over every penny on him as they drove him from Madina to Awudome Cemetery, near Kaneshie.
The complainant was then asked by the accused persons to pay over GH¢20,000.00 amid terrorization.
The prosecutor said the accused person ordered the complainant to transfer the cash from his bank account through the online banking system into his mobile money account.
“Accused persons continued to hold the victim hostage at Kwame Nkrumah Circle and a civilian joined them in the Police Patrol vehicle.
The victim, acting on instructions of the accused persons amid threats and harm, transferred cash in the sum of GH¢20,000.00 from his Ecobank Account,” he said
ASP Kesse said they deleted the transaction records on his phone after robbing the victim (complainant) of his money, and drove him to Kwame Nkrumah Circle, and forced him into a taxi.
The accused persons instructed the taxi driver to move his car without looking back and they sped off.
The victim made a report to the police and investigations led to the arrest of the policemen which led to the retrieval of the amount of GH¢20,000.00.
After their arrest, the policemen bribed the case investigator with cash in the sum of GH¢2,500.00 to cover them up in the case.
The prosecutor noted to the court that efforts were underway to arrest the civilian accomplice whose mobile money account was used to facilitate the crime and an itemized bill had been sent to Abeka District Court for disclosures in this regard.
