Criminals, who allegedly invaded Wendy Shay’s concert – ‘Shay Concert’ – and Afrochella festival, have been put before the Accra Circuit Court.
The Shay concert and Afrochella Festival, which happened almost two weeks apart, were invaded by the criminals who allegedly robbed those who attended the programmes off their valuables.
The accused persons are being tried by two separate courts, presided over by Afia Owusua Appiah and Evelyn Asamoah respectively.
Thomas Attiah and three others at large allegedly invaded the Shay concert, while Daniel Atugah, Musah Ibrahim alias Pantang, Ibrahim Mohammed aka Ashiaman, and Lucky Chinedu stormed the Afrochella Festival.
Attiah was arraigned before the court, presided over by Mrs. Asamoah, and pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit a crime, to wit robbery, robbery, and possession of a firearm and ammunition without lawful authority.
Daniel Atugah, Musah Ibrahim alias Pantang, Ibrahim Mohammed aka Ashaimaz, and Lucky Chinedu have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit a crime, robbery, and dishonestly receiving.
The cases are being prosecuted by Chief Inspector Samuel Ahiabor and Chief Inspector Isaac Anquandah.
Shay Concert
At the Circuit Court ’10’, C/Inspector Ahiabor narrated that Attiah and his accomplices whose official names are not known, but go by the nicknames ‘War Neer’, ‘Bullet’, and ‘Assah’, shared a common room at the Konkomba market at Agbogbloshie in Accra.
According to him, on Friday, January 6, 2023, Attiah and his accomplices agreed and planned to attend the ‘SHAY CONCERT’ held at the West Hills Mall car park with the motive to rob people off their possessions during and after the entertainment programme, which took place on January 7 and ran through the early hours of Sunday, January 8.
Therefore, the accused persons, on the day of the event, left their place of abode and armed themselves with a locally manufactured pistol, with one live BB cartridge loaded in the chamber, to enable them carry out their robbery expedition.
Between the hours of 12:00am and 1:30am of Sunday, January 8, the accused and his accomplices moved to the Kasoa tollbooth, which is not far from the event grounds, and started robbing passers-by off their valuables.
Attiah was alleged to have been carrying the weapon and pointing it at their targets, amid issuing threats to the victims to surrender their valuables. A complainant in the case, Richmond Okyere, was one of the victims who fell prey to Attiah and his group.
Richmond was robbed off cash in the sum of GH¢300.00, a Samsung phone valued GH¢500.00, and other valuables. Others who used the stretch of road were also robbed by Attiah and his gang.
Fortunately, a Police Patrol Team surfaced at the scene, and as they stopped to confront the robbers, they (robbers) took to their heels, but Thomas Atiah aka Tom Lee Sparta was caught with the locally manufactured pistol and a BB cartridge.
“The accused indicated in his statement that one Yaaba, who resides at Konkomba market, supplied them with the unauthorised locally manufactured pistol to rob victims and bring the booty at all times to him for rewards,” he stated.
He added that efforts were underway to apprehend the accomplices at large and bring them to book.
Afrochella Festival
His Lordship Samuel Bright Acquah was informed by Chief Inspector Anquandah that the complainant in this case is a Ghanaian, but domiciled in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
He added that the accused persons were Daniel Atugah, an ex-convict and alleged student, Musah Ibrahim aka Pantang, a welder, Ibrahim Mohammed, unemployed, and Lucky Chinedu, a Nigerian and a secondhand mobile phone dealer.
The prosecution said all the accused persons reside at separate locations at Ashaiman.
According to him, during the month of December 2022, a musical festival, dubbed “Afrochella”, was held at the El-Wak Sports Stadium in Accra to promote Africas diverse cultures and creativity.
He further stated that the programme attracted patrons from all walks of life, including the complainant who was in the country during the Christmas holidays.
On the night of Wednesday, December 28, 2022, Daniel Atugah, Musah Ibrahim alias Pantang, and Ibrahim Mohammed aka Ashaiman attended the programme ostensibly to rob members of the unsuspecting audience.
They allegedly wore similar black T-shirts to enable them execute their criminal activities with ease, and to evade arrest.
The accused persons strategically positioned themselves around El-Wak looking for unsuspecting victims to prey on.
About 11:30pm, the complainant was seated at the back passenger seat of a black SUV fidgeting with her Iphone X mobile phone valued at GH¢3,000.00, when all of a sudden, Musah Ibrahim skillfully snatched the mobile phone from her and passed it to Ibrahim Mohammed.
The three, after robbing the phone from the complainant, took to their heels to avoid being arrested.
However, Daniel Atugah was subsequently arrested following an alarm raised by the complainant, but Musah and Mohammad escaped from the scene with the mobile phone. The next day, Mohammed sold the mobile phone to Chinedu at Ashaiman traffic lights for GH¢400.00.
Mohammed kept GH¢200.00 to himself, gave Musah GH¢100.00, and saved GH¢100.00 to be given to Daniel as his share.
Interestingly, on January 3, 2023, at about 8:00pm, Daniel escaped from lawful custody when he was being escorted by police personnel from his residence at Ashaiman.
Luckily, two days later, Daniel was recaptured by the police at his hideout in Ashaiman, and led the police to arrest Musah and Mohammad.
Mohammed also led the police to the workplace of Chinedu, and he was arrested.
Daniel, Musah and Mohammad admitted to the police that they acted together to rob the complainant’s mobile phone, while Chinedu confessed receiving the mobile phone from Mohammed.
Police investigations further revealed that Daniel was convicted 10 years with hard labour at the Ashaiman District Court somewhere in August 2022 for the offence of unlawful entry and stealing, and was supposed to serve the sentence at the Ankaful Maximum Security Prison.
After investigations, all the accused persons were charged with the offences and brought before the court.
