"Killer" Driver Sniffs Cocaine

Information available to Daily Guide indicates that traces of cocaine were found in the blood sample of Thomas Kofi Osei, the 51-year-old businessman who rammed his Mercedes Benz 500SE car into President John Agyekum Kufuor’ s official car at the Silver Star Tower/Opeibea traffic lights intersection on the 37-Airport Road last Wednesday.

An alleged notorious serial traffic offender, Osei, last Wednesday, ignored the official police siren and at top speed rammed his car into that of the President, causing it to somersault three times before landing on its back. President Kufuor however escaped unhurt. Investigations revealed that the assailant’s real name, Khadiri Mohammed (Destiny) was changed to Thomas Kofi Osei while he was living in Japan.

Daily Guide has learnt also that the suspect, who has been remanded into police custody to re-appear on November 30, was in the company of a woman when he crashed his car into the presidential convoy. The lady (name withheld) disappeared from the scene soon after the horrific accident, with nobody noticing her.She only turned herself in to the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) upon advice from friends who knew that she was with Osei just before the accident.

She has since written her statement and is helping in investigations into the crash. Osei is said to have quaffed three bottles of Gulder beer at the Landing Restaurant at Kotoka International Airport on the day of the incident. He also has allegedly had brushes with the law over drunk-driving, with cases in some police stations, including the Tesano and Achimota Police Stations. When DAILY GUIDE visited the Tesano Police Station yesterday, the MTTU Divisional Commander was not available for comment.

Osei, also called Mohammed, was put before an Accra Motor Court presided over by Samuel Diawuoh on Friday and remanded into police custody after being charged with four counts of dangerous driving, negligently causing harm, driving under the influence of alcohol and failing to give way to the presidential convoy. Osei, who was dressed in a red, black and white striped T-shirt and a pair of black trousers with a pair of brown slippers, was sweating heavily as he waited for the case to be called. His plea was not taken and would re-appear on November 30, 2007, after prosecution had pleaded with the court to remand him for the police to complete their investigations. The prosecutor, Chief Inspector Dora Serwaa, told the court that on November 14, 2007 at about 11:30 am, the accused person was driving a Mercedes Benz 500SE saloon car with registration number GT 2989 W along the South Liberation Link from the direction of AFGO towards the 37 Military Hospital, in the inner lane.

According to her, on arriving at a spot some few metres to the Opeibea traffic lights, the accused ignored the siren of the presidential convoy and drove straight into the rear side of the President’s Mercedes Benz 500S saloon car, being driven by Osafo Addo. She said the impact forced the President’s vehicle to turn round and hit an electric pole, falling on its right side and landing on a VW Golf saloon car with registration number GW 8750X, belonging to a certain Pastor Ken Joe Osei Kuffour.All the vehicles, she said, were damaged while the drivers sustained various degrees of injuries and were rushed to the 37 Military Hospital, where they were treated and discharged. The accused person also got injured and was admitted and treated. However, President Kufuor miraculously escaped unhurt.

The prosecutor further stated that investigations revealed that the accused was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident, and when tested with an ALCO Sensor III, his alcohol level read 0.41 per cent instead of the legal limit of 0.08 per cent.