Unemployed in court for possessing ammunition

Prince Effah, a 23-year-old unemployed, has been arraigned at an Accra Circuit Court for preparing to commit crime with six others now at large and possessing ammunition without lawful authority.

Prince was said to have in his possession two BB cartridges without lawful authority, a screw driver, an axe and an electric fence cutter in preparation to commit crime to wit robbery.

He pleaded not guilty to the charge and was remanded by the court to reappear on February 6 this year.

Counsel for the accused prayed the court for his client to be granted bail, saying that he was arrested in April 2018 and has since been in police custody.

He said the police have had all the time to investigate the case but have failed and now that the court was going to start trial they have withdrawn the previous charges and have presented fresh charges against his client.

The court ordered the prosecution to file their witness statement for the defence to file their responses.

Prosecuting, Police Chief Inspector Victor Dosoo told the court that the complainants are Policemen stationed at the Regional Police Headquarters, Accra, while Prince Effah is unemployed and resides at Agbogbloshie, Accra.

He said on April 20, 2018, acting upon information received by the Greater Accra Regional Police Command that a group of armed robbers, numbering six were planning to go on a robbery expedition at Kasoa.

He said based upon that information, men from the Regional Intelligence Team were dispatched to monitor and arrest the suspects.

He said the Police arrived at Beyeeman cold store traffic light on the Graphic Road and spotted a Kia saloon car with registration number being withheld of which the Police identified as a vehicle being used for the robberies.

Police Chief Inspector Dosoo said the Police advanced towards the vehicle and in attempt to arrest the occupants, suspect Richard Owusu Gyemfi, now deceased came out of the said vehicle with a locally manufactured pistol and attempted firing at the officers, the Police returned fire and shot him.

He said he was rushed to the Police Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

The Prosecution said Prince who was in the vehicle was arrested and when the vehicle was searched, a black bag belonging to the accused which contained two ‘BB’ cartridges, a screw driver, an axe and an electric fence cutter was found.

The prosecution said Prince was brought to the station for investigation, whilst the body of the deceased was deposited at the Police Hospital Mortuary for autopsy.

He said during investigations Prince admitted the offence and mentioned suspects Evans, Kotodwe, Junior, Agyenkwa and Bruce, all at large as his accomplices.

The prosecution said the suspect also confessed that they had committed series of robberies around Kasoa and Obuasi, where booties from those robberies were sold to one Kwabena at Madina.

Police Chief Inspector Dosoo said during investigations, a Nissan Almera taxi with registration No. GW 6844-13 and Toyota Yaris saloon car No. GE 2801-17 were retrieved from suspect Kwabena’s house, but he managed to escape.