EIGHT REMANDED IN CONNECTION WITH COURT INVASION
All eight
persons accused of invading a Circuit Court in Kumasi last Thursday to flee 13 persons who were
standing trial have been remanded into
prison custody this morning.
They will appear again before the Court on the 18th of this
month.
On
Thursday, the 6th of this month, 13 persons linked to Delta Force, a political vigilante group were standing trail
at the KMA Circuit Court for allegedly attacking and forcible ejecting the
Ashanti Regional Security Coordinator, George Adjei from his office.
During the Court hearing, the presiding Judge remanded the 13
accused persons into Prison custody.
Suddenly, some men also believed to be members
of the vigilante immediately after the Court’s Order
stormed the Court and allegedly caused a melee and aided the accused persons to escape
from the court.
Later that day, all the 13 original accused persons surrendered
to the Police but eight of those
who invaded the court were arrested at Amakom, a suburb of Kumasi.
They have since been in Police custody
assisting the investigation.
This morning,
the Head of the Legal and Prosecution Unit of the Ashanti Regional Police command, ACP Okyere Darko,
presented all the eight accused persons to Circuit
Court Two presided over by Madam Patriacia Amponsah.
The eight are Ebenezer Opoku, Samuel Yeboah, Kofi
Fosu and Christian Anokye. The rest are Kwame Frempong, Abdul Suleman,
Eric Opoku and Abass Caesar.
They all pleaded not guilty to the charges of
Disturbing Court Session and Resisting or Rescuing persons from Lawful
custody.
They appeared very sober and
calm.
The Lead Counsel of the Defence Team, Garry Nimako’s bail application was turned down by the presiding
Judge.
Mr. Nimako argued that the charges preferred against the accused
are bailable offences.
The Court subsequently remanded the eight into prison
custody to appear again before
the Court on the 18th of this
month.
Later in an interview, Mr. Nimako noted that his clients have been arrested for mistaken identity arguing that the eight were no where near the KMA Circuit Court premises on the day in question and could not have caused the escape of the 13 persons from lawful custody.
Meanwhile, the entire premises and
immediate surroundings of the Kumasi Courts Complex was heavily fortified
with police and military presence ostensibly to avert a re-occurrence of
the April 6 episode at the KMA Court.
The court premises had also been besieged
by a fairly large crowd of relatives, party sympathizers and some members of
the public to witness the maiden court proceedings against the eight
persons.
On the other hand, the 13 escapee accused persons who were standing trial for
allegedly attacking the Ashanti Regional Security Liaison Officer, Mr. George
Adjei, will appear before the KMA Circuit Court on the 20th
of this month.
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