Daniel Deku, alias Paa Dan, a hotel manager, and Kofi Abdul Raman, alias Kofi Asiedu, a driver, have been remanded into lawful custody for allegedly breaking into a medical practitioner and a senior lecturer at University of Ghana Medical School, Dr. Benjamin Sarkodie Dabo’s vehicle.
The accused persons were remanded by the Circuit Court ‘3’, presided over by Susana Eduful, on Monday, November 28, 2022.
They were remanded to reappear before the court on 13th of next month, December, for a case management conference (CMC), after having pleaded not guilty to the charges – conspiracy to commit a crime, to wit stealing, stealing and causing unlawful damage.
The charges are respectively against Section 124(1) and 172 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29).
The brief facts
The case, as presented by the prosecuting officer, Chief Inspector Isaac Anquandah, is that Dr. Sarkodie Dabo is the complainant and has two other persons, Henry Kwaku Adu and Ekow Paintsil, who are both businessmen, as witnesses.
He added the accused persons, Paa Dan and Kofi Asiedu, are residents of Bortianor and Bubuashie respectively.
According to him, on October 11, 2022, at the Palace Mall, Labone Cantonments branch in the Greater Accra Region, the accused persons, with the intention to steal, caused damage to the right rear window of the complainant’s Toyota Land Cruiser, and made away with his items, including an Apple Mac book Pro laptop, valued GH¢15,000.00, and cash in two currencies – US$5,000.00 and GH¢20,000.00.
The accused persons allegedly also stole the complainant’s personal documents and went into hiding.
The prosecuting officer said on October 15, 2022, police intelligence led to the arrest of Paa Dan at his hideout, and during interrogation, he mentioned Kofi Asiedu and Paa Henry (currently on the run) as his accomplices.
He continued that on October 30, 2022, Kofi Asiedu was arrested from his hideout at Bubuashie, and he admitted the offence during interrogation, and mentioned Ekow Paintsil as the one who bought the complainant’s Apple Mac Book pro laptop from him.
“PW3 (third prosecution witness), Ekow Paintsil, was invited by [the] police and he admitted that he bought the Apple Mac Book pro from A2 (Kofi Abdul Raman alias Kofi Asiedu) on 11th October 2022,” he said.
He narrated to the court that A2 gave the Apple Mac Book pro laptop to PW2 at Kwame Nkrumah Circle Tip Toe lane to sell a day after allegedly breaking into the medical practitioner’s vehicle.
The prosecuting officer continued that in the course of investigations, the witnesses in the case suspected foul play and handed over the complainant’s Apple Mac book pro, together with its charger, to the police for investigation.
It was during investigations that it was discovered that on October 11, 2022, Paa Dan and Kofi Asiedu, on board a Hyundai Accent with registration number GW 3178-16 driven by Paa Henry, as part of their of stealing spree, drove to the Place Mall, Labone Cantonments branch car park.
He said when the three accused persons got to the mall’s car park, it was Kofi Asiedu who got out of the car to spy in various vehicles parked for valuables.
It was during this process that he allegedly spotted the complainant’s Land Cruiser vehicle parked, and caused damage to the right rear window, stole his brown bag containing US$5,000.00, GH¢20,000.00, his bank cards, National Identification Cards, Apple Mac Book pro laptop valued GH¢15,000.00 and other official documents and bolted.
The Mall’s CCTV camera captured the crime scene, including the accused persons and the Hyundai Accent car which they used to commit the crime.
He said the CCTV footage was handed over to the police by the Mall officials on November 16 for further investigation.
C/Insp Anquandah added that after the police analysed the CCTV footage, the accused persons were charged with the offence and put before the court.
