'Amina Yutong' Brother Freed

MICHAEL OFOSU Frimpong, a prosecution witness in the Amina Yutong mass rape saga, who was also standing trial at an Accra Circuit Court for deceiving a public officer, has been freed.

Mrs. Afia Adu Amankwah, the state attorney handling his case, informed the court presided over by Francis Obiri that the Attorney-General’s Department had wanted to use him as a prosecution witness in the Amina case.

According to the prosecutor, since Amina Mohammed, the lady at the centre of the mass rape information, had been acquitted and discharged, the state was no longer interested in prosecuting Frimpong and therefore prayed that he should be discharged.

The trial judge, in accordance with the wishes of the state attorney, discharged the accused person who happily made the sign of the cross and immediately rushed out of the court to prevent any subsequent arrest.

Michael Frimpong, popularly known as Amina brother, became known when he spoke on Adom FM in Tema and Great FM in Accra, claiming he was on the Tamale-bound Yutong bus that was attacked at Kubease near Ejisu in the Ashanti Region and had witnessed the mass rape incident that occurred.

He had alleged that he was made to sleep with a 40-year-old lady by the robbers, a statement which turned out to be false.

He was subsequently arrested on a charge of deceiving a public officer and even though he was granted a GH¢5,000 bail by the court, he could not get a surety to sign the bail for him.

As a result of that, Ofosu had been in custody for over one-and-half years until he was released yesterday.

The facts as narrated by the prosecutor to the court suggested that in November 2010, the accused person, Michael Ofosu-Frimpong, who is a resident of Tafo Mile “4’ in Kumasi, went to Great FM, an Accra-based radio station, and requested to be put on air to talk about the alleged robbery and mass rape incident which allegedly occurred around Ejisu on October 11, 2010.

The manager of the radio station reportedly called in the police, informing them about his decision to grant the accused his request.

The accused was later picked up by the police for the matter to be investigated.

At the police headquarters, the accused allegedly told the police in his statement that he was robbed of his mobile phone and money during the attack and was also ordered to sleep with a woman whose age he estimated to be around 40 years.

Frimpong, realizing the trouble he had put himself in, after the police asked him to produce his ticket for further investigation, confessed that he was not on the bus.

According to the prosecutor, he informed the police that some people asked him to corroborate Amina’s story for a reward.

Amina Mohammed captured national attention following her statement on Adom FM, a Tema-based radio station that there was a mass rape of women on the Bawku-bound bus during a robbery attack at Kubiase.

The mother of three children claimed the armed robbers forced male passengers to have sex with their female counterparts, including a father who was supposedly forced to sleep with his 14-year-old daughter. She was recently acquitted and discharged on two counts of publication of false information, causing fear and panic as well as deceit of public officer after the court where she was standing trial observed that the state could not prove a case against her.

During her trial, Ofosu Frimpong, a trader, appeared as a prosecution witness and made allegations in open court that some members of the NPP attempted to bribe him with GH¢90,000 to help clear Amina, mentioning the name of Kennedy Agyapong, MP for Assin North and Prof Ken Attafuah, who volunteered to represent him among others.

Weeks later, he was again in the news, this time claiming that he was coached by the AG department to frame up the New Patriotic Party (NPP) chieftains with the bribery issue.