Chinese prisoner escape case: Prosecution to file disclosures

An Accra Circuit Court has adjourned to May 3, the case of two prison officers accused of aiding Wang Xiao, a Chinese convicted prisoner to escape from Nsawam Medium Security Prisons.

The officers, Joseph Oteng and Sergeant Isaac Boateng Bonsu have denied the charges of conspiracy and aiding escape.

The court presided over by Afia Owusuaa Appiah adjourned the matter to enable the prosecution to file their disclosures.

The correctional officers are currently on GH¢100,000 bail each.

The prosecution led by Chief Inspector Wisdom Alorwu, earlier told the court that the complainant was the third in command at the Nsawam Medium Security Prisons and the accused were serving under his supervision.

The court heard that on February 7, 2024, at around 0700 hours, the two officers were detailed to escort Xiao, a Chinese national serving a year’s sentence at Nsawam Medium Security Prisons to Korle Bu Teaching Hospital for treatment.

The prosecution said after the convict was treated by a medical officer at the hospital’s Dental Department, the accused agreed to accompany the convict to Oceans Hotel at Korle Gonno to meet his wife for a discussion in exchange for a reward of GH¢1,000, which they agreed to split.

According to the prosecution, the accused removed the convict’s handcuff and took him to the hotel reception.

The prosecution said the second accused, Bonsu, informed the receptionist that they were there to see someone in one of the rooms.

Chief Inspector Alorwu said the two officers sent the convict to the room where they met his alleged wife who offered them food and drinks, while she spent some time with the husband in the room.

The prosecution said upon returning to the hotel room to contact the convict, the accused discovered that both the convict and his alleged wife had fled through the balcony.

It said after the convict fled, the accused proceeded to the Tema Station Hockey Pitch to hide the handcuffs with a witness in the case.

They (accused) immediately called their superiors in Nsawam and informed them that when they were escorting the convict from the hospital, they were unexpectedly stopped by a yellow and black unregistered Toyota Vitz Taxi and the inmate leapt into the taxi and fled with it.

The prosecution said the accused were interrogated by their superiors at the Ghana Prisons Service headquarters, who then submitted a formal complaint to the police on February 13, 2024.

During investigations, the accused led the police to the hotel and a review of CCTV footage revealed that the convict and his alleged wife jumped from the balcony of the first-floor building and fled while the accused were relaxing in the reception area after receiving meals from the convict’s wife.

The prosecutor said it was only when the hotel staff alerted them to check on the prisoner that they realized that they had escaped.