An Accra Circuit Court, presided over by His Honour Samuel Bright Acquah has revoked the bail condition of an Estate Developer, James Okine and two others for disrespecting its orders.
The court revoked the bail yesterday after it was informed by Inspector Da Costa Bobie Ansah, holding brief for Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Maxwell Oppong, that James, Stephen Okutu Kofi, alias Kofi Santoe, and Benjamin Djanker, aka Asaa, had not been reporting to the police as ordered by the court.
Mr Acquah has remanded them into police custody when they appeared before him.
James, first accused (A1), Stephen (A5) and Benjamin (A6) are standing trial, together with Abubakar Issah (A2), Kamasah Yeboah (A3) and Ali Amadu (A4).
They have been accused of conspiracy to commit crime and unlawful protection of land contrary to Section 23(1) of the Criminal Offence Act 1960 (Act 29) and Section 12 of Land Act 2020 (Act 1036).
They have all pleaded not guilty to the charges. The case has been adjourned to March 28, 2023.
The facts
When the case was called on January 7, 2023 the court was informed by Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Maxwell Oppong that the complainant is 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 at the time 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 area.
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 them without any challenges.
According to him, the police were formed that the first accused, who also is the owner of Greenlake Estate and has recruited land guards into their family land to 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, he was also arrested for investigation.
