An Accra Circuit Court has issued a bench warrant for the arrest two people – Stephen Okutu and Benjamin Djanker – suspected to be providing land guard service for an estate developer at Katamanso in the Greater Accra Region.
The warrant for their arrest was issued on January 17, 2023 by an Accra Circuit Court presided over by Samuel Bright Acquah.
The accused persons, if arrested, would be standing trial with an owner of estate and construction firms, James Okine, Abubakar Issah, unemployed, Kamach Yeboah, Caterpillar operator and Ali Amadu, Caterpillar operator, on the charges of unlawful protection of land.
James, Abubaka, Kamach and Ali have all pleaded not guilty to the charge and had been granted bail in a total of GH¢250,000.
The facts
The trail court was informed by Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Maxwell Oppong that the complainant, Godrich Ardey, a businessman who resides at Katamanso, in the jurisdiction of the court.
He added that James Okine, Abubakar Issah, Kamack Yeboah and Ali Amadu are residents of Zenu-Ashaiman, Teiman and Oyibi respectively.
ASP Oppong told the court that two other people, Stephen Okutu Kofi, alias Kofi Santos, and Benjamin Djanker, aka Asaa, who should be standing trial with the accused persons were at large.
According to the prosecuting officer, on January 3, 2023 the complainant reported to the police that his family owns 1.625.474 acres of land at Katamanso, with a land title certificate covering the said land.
In addition to the land title certificate, the complainant also has a Power of Attorney from his family to back his claims.
To verify the documents submitted by the accused, he said police investigation has revealed that the complainant’s family have had the said land in possession for several decades.
However, the court was informed that the complainant’s family had also leased portions of the land to some estate companies who have built estate houses on the land without any challenges.
Meanwhile, the police were informed that the first accused, who also is the owner of Greenlake Estate and has recruited land guards into their family land, who protect him and his workers, while they were unlawfully grading the land to commence development.
The prosecutor told the court that on January 5, 2023 the police visited the scene with the complainant and found Kamack and Amadu using pay loader machine to grade the complainant’s family land under the protection of Issah, Okutu and Benjamin.
He stated that Kamack and Amadu were arrested and during investigation, Okine followed up and he was also arrested.
On the count of this they were charged and put before Court.
