Crowd besiege court to catch glimpse of alleged policeman robber

Cape Coast, July 10, GNA - A large crowd on Thursday besieged the precincts of the Cape Coast Courts Complex to catch a glimpse of Armah Schandorf, the police constable and his five accomplices, who are on trial for armed robbery.

The plea of Schandorf, Samuel Ghartey and Emmanuel Oduro, driver and security man, both of the Anomabu Beach Resort, Kwadwo Addai, Kwesi Fosu and Daniel Owusu, were not taken and were remanded in custody to be re-arraigned on July 31.

Before the court presided over by Mr. Justice Dwamena Tawiah heard the case at around 11.05 am, the crowd had gathered at the court premises for hours, waiting impatiently for the arrival of the suspects. The case was adjourned at the instance of the State Attorney, Mr Robert Beke, who had told the court that the docket on the case, which was committed for trial last week, "was not ready due to a few technicalities."

Schandorf and his accomplices were alleged to have robbed a cashier of the resort on April 28 this year, killing him in the process. According to the facts given by the police before their committal to the high court, Ghartey and Oduro hatched the plan, and solicited assistance from Schandorf who was stationed at Anomabu and he in turn, recruited Addai, Fosu and Owusu from the 'Konkomba' market in Accra. The prosecution said on the day of the alleged robbery, Ghartey who was conveying the cashier to Cape Coast to deposit some money, stopped abruptly in the middle of the road, to enable Schandorf and the other accomplices to attack him. It further alleged that in the process, Schandorf shot him twice in the chest with an AK 47 rifle, and the team took away 9.8 million cedis Mr. Mensah had been carrying. When the case was adjourned, the crowd could not contain their anger and disgust and booed and jeered at the suspects, and the police had a tough time controlling it before the suspects could be driven away.