The Tarkwa District Court One has remanded nine accused persons into prison custody for allegedly murdering a cab driver in Akotom in the Prestea Huni-Valley Municipality of the Western Region.
The accused persons, who made their third appearance in court, would be charged with conspiracy to commit crime and murder, but their pleas were not taken.
They are expected to be in court on Monday March 3, 2025.
Prosecuting Police Sergeant Enoch Assan Donkor told the court presided over by Mr Charles Owusu Nsiah that the complainant was a businessman who resided at Huniso and the deceased Kwadwo Donkor alias ‘Chilling’ was his employee.
Nana Kwabena Agyarko, 45, Evans Azure alias, Ampana, 40, Peter Kwamena Antwi, 34, Felix Atsu Davor, 38, Sampson Agbodojie, 30, Kojo Bonzy, 72, Stephen Owusu, alias Kofi Abanga, 38, Kofi Ampabeng, 38 and Lucky Mudoo, 30 are teacher, mason, drivers, and farmers were the accused persons.
The prosecutor said aside Azure who resided at Camp, near Tarkwa the rest were residents of Akotom.
He said on November 8, 2024, at about 0830 hours, the deceased left home with his taxicab for work but did not return.
The complainant made several attempts to reach him, but it all proved futile, so he reported the matter to the police on November 9, 2024, around 1430 hours.
It said while investigations were ongoing, the police had a tip-off that one Sheriffa, who is a suspect in the case and currently on the run, sighted the deceased at Akotom near her husband’s car and without any justification, raised the alarm that he was a thief.
He said Sheriffa’s action attracted the accused persons and some youth in the community, who were currently at large to the scene.
The accused persons accosted the deceased and Azure who was then passing by joined them and provided a rope and they tied the deceased against a nearby electric pole.
Sergeant Donkor said the accused persons and their accomplices subjected the deceased to severe beatings with all kinds of objects which allegedly led to his death.
According to him, when they realized Donkor had passed on, they placed the body in a tricycle and dumped him in a nearby bush along the Tarkwa-Bogoso Highway which was about 1.5 kilometers away from the Akotom community.
On November 10, 2024, Agyarko, who was picked up to assist police in its investigations denied the crime, but later confessed and mentioned Antwi and others at large as his counterparts.
He said Agyarko later led the police to the bush and identified the exact place where they hid the body of the deceased, and it was retrieved though the body was in advanced decomposition state.
The police arrested Azure on November 12, 2024, and he said Antwi and Davor were also involved, and both were apprehended from their hideout for interrogation.
Sergeant Donkor added that police intelligence also revealed that the rest of the accused persons were part of those who committed the offence, hence they were all arrested.
The prosecutor said after investigation a duplicate docket was prepared and forwarded to the Attorney General’s office at Sekondi for study and advice.
