Two male students from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and another individual have been remanded in custody by a circuit court in Takoradi for allegedly blackmailing a 20-year-old man.
The accused are Jerome Enyam, 19, a resident of Fijai near Takoradi; Ebenezer Adam, 19, of Kojokrom in Sekondi; and Awudu Adams, 28, a Fijai resident and Junior High School graduate.
They allegedly threatened to post an intimate video of Raindolf Owusu Hammond and his girlfriend on social media unless he paid them GH¢1,800.
The three pleaded not guilty to the charge when they appeared before the circuit court presided over by Harriet Charway and were remanded to police custody to reappear on June 17, 2024.
The prosecutor, Chief Inspector Keylin Yawson, told the court that the accused were friends and schoolmates of the victim, a former KNUST student.
He said the complainant in the case is Stephen Owusu Hammond, the father of the victim, Raindolf Owusu Hammond.
According to the prosecutor, during the first quarter of last year, the complainant’s son videotaped sexual intimacy with his girlfriend and transferred it to his laptop.
He said that, under the influence of ecstasy, the victim’s close friend and important case witness, Ekow Wilson, downloaded the video onto his mobile phone.
The prosecutor stated that the first accused, Jerome Enyam, airdropped the footage into his phone without the witness’Â knowledge or consent.
According to Chief Inspector Yawson, Jerome Enyam shared the video with the second and third accused persons, Ebenezer Adam, and Awudu Adams.
He stated that the first and second accusers maliciously shared the same video to the victim.
The prosecution alleges that the first and second accused demanded GH¢1,800 as a ransom and threatened to release the footage on social media if the demand was not met.
On November 7, 2023, the three accused persons sent a text message to the victim via an anonymous Vodafone (now Telecel) contact number 0203224110, informing him that they had in their possession an amorous video involving him and his girlfriend, and demanded GH¢2,500 from him.
At this time, the victim informed his father, the complainant, who filed the case with the Police Intelligence Directorate (PID) in Takoradi, resulting in the arrest of the accused persons.
The police retrieved the three accused’s cell phones, which had the explicit video.
Following an investigation, the accused were charged with the offence and arraigned in court.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi