Chief, Five Others face kidnapping charge

Duayaw-Nkwanta (Brong Ahafo), 25 Feb. '99 -

Duayaw-Nkwanta (Brong Ahafo), 25 Feb. '99 - Nana Asaman Kwao the Second, chief of Oyoko Breman, near Kumasi, and five others standing trial at the Duayaw-Nkwanta circuit tribunal for allegedly abducting a farmer at Adugyama, were yesterday slapped with an additional charge of kidnapping. This followed the tribunal's acceptance of an application by the prosecution for an amendment of the charge sheet when the accused persons made their second appearance before the tribunal. At their first appearance on February nine, this year, the charge sheet read "aiding and abetting to commit crime" against Nana Kwao the Second. The remaining five accused persons had been charged with falsely pretending to be public officers and possessing false documents and a deadly weapon. Nana Kwao and the other accused persons, Okyeame Odame Fosu, Yaw Bawuah, Kwame Bawa, Samuel Arko, and Kwaku Abeeku, had all pleaded not guilty and had been granted 10 million cedis bail each with one surety. The prosecutor, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) G.B.K. Gbedjoh, told the tribunal that the absence of the additional charge of kidnapping on the charge sheet presented at its first sitting was an omission the amendment wanted to rectify. DSP Gbedjoh said the facts already presented to the tribunal at that sitting contained all the necessary ingredients needed to obtain conviction on the new charge and he would, therefore, not bring any new information or alter the facts. The tribunal, chaired by Mr Bright Kofi Dzebre, granted the application despite strong objections by the two-man defence counsel. Mr Asomah Kyeremeh and Mr Baffour Akoto had argued that the amendment application was improper and must be rejected because the right procedures had not been followed by the prosecutor. Mr Dzebre rejected their argument but agreed to adjourn till March 10 for the plea of the accused persons to be taken on the new charge since one of them, Okyeame Fosu, who is the linguist of Nana Kwao, was absent with an excuse. The facts of the case as presented by DSP Gbedjoh were that the other five accused persons, on the orders of Nana Kwao, abducted one Oscar Ofori-Atta at Adugyama in the Ashanti region on January 12, this year. Ofori-Atta is litigating with Nana Kwao over a piece of land at Fawoade, near Kumasi. Some of the accused persons, he said, had falsely identified themselves as military persons with fake identity cards and had told Ofori- Atta that they had been sent by the Castle to bring him to Accra. DSP Gbedjoh said friends who became suspicious when the accused persons driving in a Nissan-Pick-up owned by Nana Kwao took to the direction of Sunyani instead of Accra, chased them in another car and reported them to the police at Tepa Junction. When they were arrested and searched, a small axe and false military identity cards were found on them.