Alleged court rioters granted bail

Accra, Sept. 8, GNA - Two persons were on Wednesday put before an Accra Circuit Court for their alleged involvement in the riot at the premises of the Accra Fast Track High Court when the case of 14 persons accused of allegedly murdering the King of Dagbon, Ya-Na Yakubu Andani, was heard on Tuesday.

Fuseni Napoloo, a butcher and Mohammed Alhassan, a scrap dealer, pleaded not guilty to the charge of rioting with 40 others now at large.

The court admitted them to bail in the sum of GH¢2,000 with one surety each to reappear on September 27.

The court further warned them to be of good behaviour.

This was after their counsel, Nii Adjin Mensah, had pleaded with the court to admit his clients to bail since the offence preferred against them was a misdemeanour.

Defence counsel said the accused persons had fixed places of abode and they would always present themselves to court whenever they were needed.

The prosecutor, Superintendent of Police Abichab Boye, did not oppose the bail application.

There was heightened security presence at the premises of the Cocoa Affairs Courts when the accused appeared.

Superintendent Boye told the court that on September 7, policemen from the Regional Police Command were dispatched to maintain law and order at the Fast Track High Court premises when the case of the murder of the Ya-Na came up.

At about 0900 hours, the prosecutor said, followers of the late King from the Andani family, and sympathisers of the 14 accused persons who were from the Abudu family converged at the premises of the court.

The prosecution said the youth who were sympathisers of the late King appeared incensed and agitated and did not heed to calls from the police to calm down.

According to the prosecutor, they appeared charged and threatened to cause mayhem.

"The youth further made noise all over the court premises and it took the police a hectic time to calm them down," the prosecutor added.

Superintendent Boye said when the proceedings of the Fast Track High Court ended at about 1300 hours the same group started making noise and threatened to attack the Abudu faction which was calm.

This, prosecution said, led to the calling for reinforcement from the Police Headquarters to beef up security.

Superintendent Boye said the Andani faction numbering about 42 became violent, blocked the entrance of the Supreme Court building and threw stones at the police.

The police arrested the accused persons while the rest fled.