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, illegal miner; Ransford Osei Coffie alias King/Anointing, 29, driver; and Johnson Adu alias Black Nana, 24, gold buyer.
Obeng, Coffie and Adu are currently being held for conspiracy, robbery, and rape, but their pleas have not been taken.
A duplicate docket has since been prepared and forwarded to the Attorney General’s office for study and advice.
Detective Police Chief Inspector Joseph Kwadwo Agyare, Prosecuting, told the court presided over by Mr. Lawrence Buanor-Buer, that the complainants Stephen Amihere, and his fiancée, Christiana Mensah resided in the same apartment at Desueano.
He said the accused persons lived at Desueano and Abokyia all in the Aowin Municipality of the Western North Region.
On Tuesday January 2, 2024, at about 1:30 am, the accused persons armed with locally manufactured pistol and a knife went to the complainants’ apartment to rob them.
Detective Chief Inspector Agyare said when Obeng, Coffie and Adu got to the premises, Obeng stood outside to provide the needed security so they would not be caught.
He said Coffie and Adu subjected Amihere to severe beatings, ordered him to surrender all his money, but he fell unconscious, and they tied his two hands with sellotape and sealed his mouth as well.
The two then rushed on to the complainant’s fiancée, tied her hands, and sealed her mouth with sellotape.
\Coffie was masked, while his counterpart Adu was unmasked forcibly had sex with her in turns, after which they made away with iPhone 6x, iPhone 11, Jordan sneaker, shirts, belt, handbag, wristwatch, gold detector machine and cash sum of GH¢300.
Prosecution said after the accused persons had left, the complainant’s fiancée managed to untie herself and she raised the alarm which attracted residents within the area including the neighborhood watchdog committee chairman who is a witness in the case.
At the scene, the witness found an itel mobile phone, and he went through the call logs, found Obeng’s contact which subsequently led to his arrest.
Detective Chief Inspector Agyare said, when they questioned Obeng about the owner of the mobile phone, he indicated that it belonged to Coffie and he led the police to a Guest House at Abokyia where they were lodging but met his absence.
The police conducted a search in the room and found a black bag containing Ghana card and Access Bank ATM card belonging to Obeng.
They also found a voters identification card, Ghana card, passport and National Health Insurance card all bearing the name of Coffie and a mask.
Coffie and Adu were later arrested by some volunteers, and they handed them over to the police to assist investigation.
Further checks made by the police revealed that Obeng, Coffie and Adu were friends, and had earlier planned to rob the complainant because they claimed he had money.
Prosecution said Obeng lived in the same community as the complainants, and he had been leaking information to Coffie and Adu about their movements.
Detective Chief Inspector Agyare said to execute the plan, accused persons rented a room in a Guest House where they have been lodging for the past three weeks.
GNA
JP/BM/LAA
22 June 2024
