The suspects
One of the six suspects standing trial in connection with the murder of Trooper Sherrif Imoro at Taifa, a suburb of Ashaiman in the Greater Accra Region has been released on health ground.
He has been granted GHC150,000 bail with three sureties, two to be justified with landed properties by the court presided over by Simon J. Gaga.
However, another suspect is crying for more food claiming that he is being underfed.
This comes after two lawyers battled with prosecution for over 30 minutes for bail to be granted to the accused persons against the wish of prosecution who want them remanded.
Counsel who only represented the accused persons who were arrested and charged for dishonestly receiving stolen items prayed the court to grant them bail.
Counsel for three of the four accused persons told the court that the third accused, Ibrahim Abdul Rakib has been battling with ulcer in custody.
He therefore asked the court to admit him to bail so that he can seek proper medical attention since keeping him in custody could aggravate his health condition.
But prosecution led by Superintendent Sylvester Asare opposed to the bail and told the court to adjourn the case.
According to him, the investigations into the case are in advanced stage as prosecution needs ample time to complete.
He pointed out to the keeping accused persons in custody is in the interest of the accused persons and that of the public.
According to the prosecutor, granting them bail will impede and interfere with investigations.
Prosecutor rubbished the claim of suspect demanding for bail on health ground, saying that the accused never complained of any sickness when he was in custody.
He said prosecution is ready to offer medical treatment to the accused person at the Police Hospital.
Interestingly, before the presiding judge could complete drafting his ruling, one of the prime suspects, Samuel Tetteh raised his hand.
When asked by the court his reason, to the dismay of the gallery, he told the court that the food being offered him in the custody was not enough.
He further told the court to direct prosecution to give him enough food.
But the court, after having carefully listened to the applications for bail from counsel and objection by the prosecution, admitted the third accused person to bail on health ground.
The court however, remanded the remaining five accused into police custody for investigations to continue.
The court further directed the police to take good care of the accused persons in custody to be healthy to stand trial to avoid unwanted eventuality.
The main two accused persons arrested for the murder of the military are on trial for conspiracy to commit crime to wit attempted robbery and robbery whereas the four are defending themselves on the charge of dishonestly receiving stolen items.
Murder Trial
Earlier today April 11, 2023, the Tema District Court also denied bail to the two main accused persons, Samuel Tetteh alias Wiper and Abubakar Sadick alias Birdman when they appeared on a charge of conspiracy to commit murder and murder.
The Tema District Magistrate Court Presided over by Benedicta Antwi remanded the accused persons after Superintendent Sylvester Asare told the court that duplicate docket which has been forwarded to the office of Attorney General for study and advice is yet to return.
He prayed the court to remand the accused persons in police custody.
The Magistrate, Benedicta Antwi had granted the prayer of the prosecution at the last sitting and remanded the accused persons to reappear on April 11, 2023
It would be recalled that the Police after a week of sustained intelligence-led operations, arrested six persons at different dates and locations within Ashiaman and its environs for their suspected involvement in the murder of Private Imoro Sherrif, a soldier.
On March 4, Police received information that a male adult had been found lying dead at Ashiaman Taifa in the Greater Accra Region.
A team of Police officers proceeded to the said location and confirmed the incident.
Police immediately commenced an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of the victim.
The Crime Scene Team retrieved a number of items, including a knife with blood stains on it and a backpack. In the backpack, Police found a Samsung tablet, an Apple laptop, a military uniform with the name tag “Imoro”, eight other items of clothing, as well as a Ghana card and a Health Insurance card bearing the name Imoro Sherrif.
Judging from the contents of the backpack, the police suspected the victim could be a soldier, and in line with Police standard operating procedure for handling institution-based victims, the Military was accordingly notified of the incident and some military personnel came to identify the deceased to Police as Imoro Sheriff, a soldier.
The body of the deceased was thereafter conveyed to a hospital for preservation and autopsy.
As part of the investigation, an intelligence-led operation was immediately launched within Ashiaman and other strategic locations of interest to follow up on all relevant leads on the case.
The deceased was stationed at Sunyani but had come to Accra on a course.
Investigations further revealed that on March 3, the deceased had visited a female friend at Ashaiman Newtown at about 10:30pm and left the place in the middle of the night at about 01:30am, on March 4.
After almost a week of intelligence-led operations, on March 9, the police arrested suspects Safianu Musah alias Dayorgu and Ibrahim Abdul Rakib at their hideouts in Ashaiman.
Two other suspects, Samuel Tetteh alias Wiper and Abubakar Sadick alias Birdman were also arrested at their hideouts on March 10.
Two additional suspects, Yussif Mohammed and Abdul Gafaru Abdul Karim were arrested on 11th and March 12, respectively.
Further investigation established that suspects Samuel Tetteh and Abubakar Sadick at about 1:45 am on 4th March 2023 attacked the deceased at Taifa Ashiaman in an attempt to rob him of his phone and a backpack leading to his death.
By Vincent Kubi