KNUST: Police officer, student accused of rape remanded again
L/Cpl Frank Adu Poku and Joel Osei Owusu were arrested on July 19, 2022, and have since been charged with with two counts; conspiracy to commit rape and rape.
The Asokore Mampong District Court has remanded for the second time, the interdicted police officer and final year student of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), accused of gang-raping a first-year student of the school.
L/Cpl Frank Adu Poku and Joel Osei Owusu were arrested on July 19, 2022, and have since been charged with with two counts; conspiracy to commit rape and rape.
In court on Tuesday, July 9, 2022, lawyers for accused persons again sought for bail. Lawyer for the final year student, Sarfo Duku, for instance, had raised arguments that since his client was due to write his final year exams, the court should grant him bail to prepare ahead of the exams.
The legal representative of L/Cpl Frank Adu Poku, Kwaku Yeboah Akowuah, also said since the Attorney-General had received the docket, he assumed the police have completed their investigations and there was, therefore, no need to continuously keep his client in police custody.
These were however opposed by the Ashanti Regional Head of Legal and Prosecutions, ACP Kofi Blagodzi.
Furthermore, the presiding judge, His Worship Boabin Quansah, held that his court did not have the jurisdiction to grant bail to the accused persons, and considering the public interest in the case, there was a need to remand them.
“The lawyers for the accused persons repeated the application for bail, and I drew the court’s attention that my Lord has no jurisdiction to grant bail in respect of this matter. Because this is a first-degree felony offence of rape, I made my Lord aware that they know the appropriate forum that they have to make such an application. This forum is not convenient. That’s what I made my lord aware of, and my lord has heard my submission and remanded them. In respect of this matter, the Attorney General is very much aware of the public interest, so they are also working very speedily to come and proceed with the committal proceedings. So this is what I made the court aware of. The police officer has been interdicted,” lead prosecutor, ACP Kofi Blagodzi is quoted to have told reporters.
The matter has been adjourned to August 23, 2022.
