Two alleged armed robbers who shot and killed a police officer, Constable Daniel Owusu, and severely injured another at Abeka Lapaz in Accra, have been remanded into custody by an Accra circuit court.
Kasim Mukaila aka Ekpe Macho and Abdul Rahim aka Spata, according to the police, shot the police officers who stopped them after they had flouted traffic regulations. They were said to be fleeing after an alleged robbery operation on June 13, 2017.
The two are said to have snatched a Hyundai Elantra saloon car from one Emanuel Kwadey, but the vehicle ran out of fuel and so they decided to abandon it along the road and tried to escape on a motorbike.
They were then pursued by the police officers in an effort to arrest them for ignoring the red light signal; but they rather shot the cops, killing one and severely injuring the other and bolted.
Kasim Mukaila was arrested on February 26, 2018 at his hideout at Kasoa in the Central Region and reportedly admitted the offence.
His alleged accomplice, Abdul Rahim, according to the police, went into hiding in Togo after the incident, but resurfaced this month and was nabbed at Nima, a suburb of Accra, on March 14, 2018.
The two are before the court charged with three counts of conspiracy to commit crime, robbery and causing harm.
They both pleaded not guilty and the court, presided over by Aboagye Tandoh, remanded them into custody to reappear on April 9, 2018.
Chief Inspector Kwabena Adu told the court that the complainant is Emmanuel Kwadey, a footballer.
He said on June 13, 2017 at about 1:00 pm, the complainant was on his way to withdraw money from the Lapaz branch of Beige Capital when he spotted the two accused persons in helmets pointing a gun at him.
He told the court that the complainant was compelled to stop and the suspects snatched the vehicle from him as well as two mobile phones and drove off.
Chief Inspector Adu narrated that the complainant later lodged a complaint and police intelligence led to the discovery of the vehicle, which had been abandoned at Ablekuma.
He said a search conducted in the car uncovered blood clots, two T-shirts and two crash helmets abandoned by the accused persons.
Chief Inspector Adu said when Kasim Mukaila was arrested, he admitted the crime and claimed that Abdu Rahim was his accomplice.
The prosecutor told the court that police investigations revealed that on June 13, 2018, Constable Ziblim Alhassan and Daniel Owusu – both of the Community Police Department Motorbike Unit at Tesano – were on their routine day patrol duties at Tesano/Abeka-Lapaz and its environs when the incident happened.
He said at about 12:30 pm, both police officers stopped at a traffic light intersection at Abeka-Lapaz which had shown red.
“Suddenly, an unregistered black royal motorbike with Kasim Mukaila as the rider and Abdul Rahim as the pillion rider, sped past without observing the red light. The two policemen riders pursued the accused persons with the intention to arrest them and caught up with them at the Beige Capital Bank, Lapaz branch, and stopped them,” Chief Inspector Adu narrated.
He said the police officers pointed out the accused persons’ offence to them and they took offence, and as they were armed with pistols, fired shots at the police officers, killing Constable Daniel Owusu and wounding Constable Ziblim Alhassan in the process.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak