Three friends remanded in Enchi for robbery, rape

Three friends, who allegedly robbed an illegal miner and raped his fiancée, have been remanded into police custody by the Enchi District Magistrate Court.

They are Alex Obeng, alias Power Money, 24, an illegal miner; Ransford Osei Coffie, alias King/Anointing, 29, a driver; and Johnson Adu, alias Black Nana, 24, a gold buyer.

Obeng, Coffie, and Adu are currently held for conspiracy, robbery, and rape, but their pleas have not been recorded.

A duplicate docket has been prepared and forwarded to the Attorney General's office for review and advice.

Detective Police Chief Inspector Joseph Kwadwo Agyare, the prosecutor, informed the court presided over by Lawrence Buanor Buer that the complainants, Stephen Amihere and his fiancée, Christiana Mensah, resided in the same apartment at Desueano.

The accused persons lived at Desueano and Abokyia, all within the Aowin Municipality of the Western North Region.

On Tuesday, January 2, 2024, at about 1:30 am, the accused persons, armed with a locally manufactured pistol and a knife, went to the complainants' apartment to rob them.

Detective Chief Inspector Agyare stated that Obeng stood outside to provide the necessary security to avoid detection.

Coffie and Adu subjected Amihere to severe beatings, demanding he surrender all his money. When he fell unconscious, they tied his hands with sellotape and sealed his mouth as well.

They then assaulted the complainant's fiancée, tying her hands and sealing her mouth with sellotape. Coffie, who was masked, and Adu, who was unmasked, forcibly had sex with her in turns.

Afterward, they fled with an iPhone 6x, iPhone 11, Jordan sneakers, shirts, a belt, a handbag, a wristwatch, a gold detector machine, and a cash sum of GH¢300.

After the accused left, the complainant's fiancée managed to free herself and raised an alarm, attracting residents, including the neighborhood watchdog committee chairman, who is a witness in the case.

At the scene, the witness found an itel mobile phone and, after going through the call logs, found Obeng's contact, which led to his arrest.

When questioned about the mobile phone, Obeng stated it belonged to Coffie and led the police to a guest house in Abokyia where they were lodging, but Coffie was absent.

The police found a black bag containing Obeng's Ghana card and Access Bank ATM card during a room search. They also found Coffie's voter identification card, Ghana card, passport, National Health Insurance card, and a mask.

Coffie and Adu were later apprehended by volunteers and handed over to the police to assist with the investigation. Further checks revealed that Obeng, Coffie, and Adu, who were friends, had planned to rob the complainant, believing he had money.

Obeng, who lived in the same community as the complainants, had been leaking information about their movements to Coffie and Adu.

To execute their plan, the accused rented a room in a guest house where they had been lodging for the past three weeks.