UG student allegedly at centre of death threats message granted bail

Accra, May 18, GNA - Benjamin Akyena Brentuo, a 25-year-old student of the University of Ghana who is alleged to be at the centre of a message threatening to kill the Vice Chancellor, Professor Clifford N. Tagoe and other lecturers was on Friday granted bail by an Accra Circuit Court.

The court, presided over by Justice Frank Manu admitted him to 300 million cedis bail with two sureties and asked him to report once a week to the Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID). Brentuo pleaded not guilty to all the five counts of threat of life to some school authorities including the Vice Chancellor, will reappear on May 31. At Friday's sitting, four fresh charges of threat of death, maiming and kidnapping of four lectures and their families, were brought against him.

The lecturers are Professor Kofi Kumado, Dr Audrey Gadzekpo, Dr Kodzo Gavua and Dr John Wiredu. Brentuo is alleged to have threatened to use acid attacks, arson, poisoning, maiming, kidnapping, electrocution against the lecturers. According to defence counsel, the new charges were not different from the old ones, saying only a lot more people had been added. Defence counsel argued that Brentuo did not give the authorities briefing space on the new residential policy of in-out-out-out and some financial irregularities on campus. They contended that as a result, the school authorities did not give him room and he was perching with a friend in Commonwealth Hall in room F7.

Defence counsel averred that the bench warrant arrest was obtained by fraudulent means to infringe upon his fundamental human rights and he could not write his end of semester examinations. Assistant Superintendent of Police George Abavelim told the court that investigations were still on-going as the charges against the accused person were serious.

The facts of the case are that letters were circulated on the campus of the University of Ghana threatening the lives of lecturers over the new residential policy of in-out-out-out to be implemented from the next semester.

The prosecution indicated that intelligence gathered revealed that occupants of F7 at Commonwealth Hall, where Brentuo was staying, produced the message.

On April 27 the police armed with a search warrant went to Commonwealth Hall and in the presence of some hall authorities searched the room and retrieved one Compaq systems unit, an IBM monitor, one Compaq keyboard and its accessories, a pen drive, 22 compact discs and assorted documents. The hall authorities told the police that the room was illegally occupied by the accused. The accused was not immediately available for questioning and inventory of the items retrieved was immediately taken in the presence of the hall authorities. The items retrieved were examined and the document in question was found on the pen drive.

Police mounted a search for the arrest of Brentuo and following the publication in the media declaring the suspect as wanted, he surrendered to the police. In his statement, the accused denied the allegations of death threat on lecturers. Some students who besieged the court premises were clad in red 'T' shirts, singing, shouting and holding placards with some inscriptions such as "Free Benji", "Let Freedom and Justice Prevail", "Law and Justice".