A second prosecution witness in the trial of Corporal Raymond Amegashie and others, who have been accused of robbing a supermarket at Nungua in the Greater Accra Region, has told an Accra Circuit Court that the cop’s accomplices begged the arresting officers to ensure he does not escape.
According to the witness, General Lance Corporal Emmanuel Kortey, the second accused person, Ibrahim Ayirebo, who realised that the cop was about to escape, shouted that he was their boss and subsequently begged the police to arrest him.
He told the court that at the time of the arrest, they had only three handcuffs so they cuffed the other three and asked Corporal Raymond Amegashie to keep an eye on them while they wait for the patrol team.
He narrated that the cop escaped when the patrol team got to a junction close to the Abattoir Snap Check Point at Tema Community 20.
Led in his evidence-in-chief by Chief Inspector Kwabena Adu, the prosecution witness told the court that he and two other officers were on duty on December 12, 2017 when he saw a Toyota Corolla.
He said he ordered the driver to stop and turn on the light in the car.
According to General Lance Corporal Kortey, Cop Amegashie and Stanley Akorli were in the front seat while Ibrahim and Bright Dorkanu were in the back seat with a bag.
He said he questioned Ibrahim about the content of the bag but he could not answer so he decided to pose a question to Corporal Raymond Amegashie.
“I saw the muscle of a gun partly covered and when I asked him where he got the gun from he told me he is a police man and that he is going to his duty post at Tema.”
When I enquired about the other two in the back of the seat, he told me they gave him a lift. I was not convinced by his explanation so I told him he was under arrest,” the witness narrated.
He told the court that at the time of the arrest, Corporal Raymond Amegashie was wearing his uniform trousers and boots but used his police shirt to cover the weapon used in the robbery.
According to the prosecution witness, after he told the cop that he was under arrest, Ibrahim told the driver to drive away so he (witness) forced the back door open and saw Ibrahim picking something from the floor, so entered the vehicle and struggled with him.
“I shouted for help from my other two colleagues and we managed to overpower them. We then saw a foreign pistol, which Ibrahim was trying to pick from the floor but we succeeded in handcuffing them and called for assistance from the police patrol team,” the witness narrated.
“But when the patrol team got to junction, we turned and could not find Corporal Amegashie. When we wanted to put the others into the police patrol vehicle, Ibrahim shouted that Corporal Amegashie was their boss so we should not allow him to go scot-free this time,” the witness told the court.
He added that they found GH¢19,000 and some dollars after a search.
The presiding judge, Mr. Aboagye Tandoh adjourned the matter to February 14, 2018 for the defence lawyers to cross-examine the witnesses.
By Gibril Abdul Razak