114 months for Kwabenya cell breakers

The remaining four persons on trial for their involvement in the violent raid on the Kwabenya Police Station to free inmates have been sentenced to a total of 114 months’ imprisonment.

Prince Osei, aka Bebe, was facing a charge of possession of firearm; Prince Kofi Acheampong was facing abetment of possession of firearms; while Nancy Dentaa and Kofi Seshie were each facing a charge of abetment to escape from lawful custody.

They all pleaded not guilty to the charges levelled against them by the state for their involvement in the planning and execution of the jail break which led to the death of Inspector Emmanuel Ashilevi (now ASP) in the process.

The accused persons, in their defence before the court, presided over by His Honour, Aboagye Tandoh, denied playing any role in the incident leaving the prosecution with the burden to prove their guilt or otherwise.

Defence

In his defence, Prince Osei vehemently denied that a gun and six cartridges were found on him, but the police maintained that he was not being truthful to the court.

He told the court that after the police had arrested him, they searched him for about five minutes but nothing was found on him.

The court, however, held that his evidence sharply contradicted his caution statement in which he stated that the gun was given to him by Prince Kofi Acheampong, who also invited him to join his robbery gang.

The court subsequently found him guilty of the charge of possessing firearm without lawful authority and as a result convicted him on the charge.

Kofi Acheampong also denied any knowledge of the gun and stated that he does not know Prince Osei who had told the police that he got the gun from him.



The court, however, held that his evidence before the court contradicted his statement to the police in which he said he knew Prince Osei and called him Yaw and Bebe.

The court, therefore, held that Prince Kofi Acheampong abetted Prince Osei in possessing firearm without lawful authority.

The court also found that Nancy Dentaa had abetted the inmates at the Kwabenya police cells to escape.

Although Nancy denied sneaking the phone to one Dickson Ofori in the police cells on the blind side of the police, the court again held that her evidence in court sharply contradicted her caution statement in which she admitted that she had been charging a mobile phone for the said Dickson without the knowledge of the police.

Sentencing

The presiding judge, Mr. Tandoh, in sentencing the four in an overcrowded court, took into consideration the plea for mitigation by defence lawyers, George Asamane and Bernard Owiredu Donkor and the fact that the convicts had already spent 13 months in prison.

He subsequently sentenced Prince Osei and Prince Kofi Acheampong each to 40 months’ imprisonment for possessing firearm without lawful authority and abetment.

The court said Prince Osei, who had already been sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to escape from lawful custody would serve his sentences concurrently.

Nancy Denta and Kofi Seshie were also handed 17 months’ imprisonment each for abetment of escape from lawful custody.