Another Accra Aca Boy Remanded

Braimah Mohammed, one of the students from Accra Academy High School, who was said to have taken part in a broad daylight robbery at Dzorwulu with his fellow students but escaped arrest, was yesterday put before an Accra Circuit Court in connection with the offence.

His father, after hearing the news of his boy being wanted in connection with the robbery decided to turn him in last Monday.

Braimah Mohammed, 17, who initially looked well-composed in the dock, started to shed tears a few minutes later and pleaded not guilty to the charges of conspiracy and robbery in a court presided over by Eric Kyei Baffuor.

His alleged accomplices- Adusu Benjamin, 19, and Obeng Francis Akoi, 19- were last Monday put before the same court and charged with the offence.

This brings to three the number of students arrested in connection with the said robbery.

Richard Anane is yet to turn himself in.

Counsel for the student, Albert Bannerman Williams, prayed the court for bail for the accused person on grounds that the boy, with the help of his father, turned himself in without waiting for the police to come after him.

According to him, the continuous remand of the accused person would jeopardize his education since he was a student.

However, the trial judge declined bail and remanded the accused person till December 28, 2011 when his alleged accomplices would be arraigned with him.

Adusu and Akoi were last Thursday arraigned for allegedly robbing a boutique at Dzorwulu in Accra, in broad daylight.

The suspects, Benjamin Adusu and Mohammed Braimah are Business students, while Richard Anane and Francis Obeng are both General Arts students at the school.

Adusu and Okoi, together with their accomplices, who they claimed were their seniors in school, reportedly tied their victim, the boutique attendant, with a rope and threatened him with cutlasses and locally-made pistols.

They have been remanded in police custody while the case has been adjourned to December 28, 2011.

Presenting the facts of the case, the prosecuting officer, DSP Kofi Blagodzi, told the court that the accused persons were students of Accra Academy while the complainant was Patrick Afful, a shop attendant at Papish Boutique at Dzorwulu.

He said on December 8, 2011, at about 1pm, the accused persons, together with two others called Richard Anane and Braimah Mohammed, visited the said boutique apparently to shop but after enquiring about the prices some of the items, they left.

According to him, the accused persons came back into the shop with bags behind them and again demanded prices of goods on display at the shop.

He said the students, in the process, lured the boutique attendant to a cubicle of the shop and tied him up with a rope, after threatening him with a locally-manufactured pistol and two cutlasses.

The prosecutor said the accused persons managed to steal assorted items such as shoes, shorts, trousers, belts, ladies wear and custom jewellery, all valued at GH¢1,130.

He said luck however eluded them when the complainant managed to untie the rope and rushed out of the boutique to shout. Before the accused persons could board a taxi, some passersby managed to stop them.

He added that the accused persons were apprehended by the police with the help of a policeman on duty nearby but the two accomplices managed to escape. The two were handed over to a police patrol team who in turn handed them over to the Kotobabi Police.

Counsel for the accused, Alex Adjei and Frimpong Manso, told the court that the boys were lured into the operation under the pretext that they were going to do something else and prayed the court to grant the accused persons bail.