Sunday, August 29, 2010

THERE REMANDED OVER MURDER (SPREAD, AUGUST 28, 2010)

THE Sunyani Magistrate’s Court, presided over by Mr Joseph Mensah, has remanded in police custody three of the four persons who were suspected to have murdered a female teacher at Nkwabeng, a suburb of Sunyani, on March 19, this year.
They are Alhaji Alhassan Atta, 57, a car dealer based in Accra; Kaadri Seidu, alias Rambo, 22, a trader resident in Accra and Fuseini Ibrahim, 35, an errand boy based at Ashaiman.
The fourth accused person, known only as Moro, is now at large.
Seidu, Ibrahim and Moro were said to have been contracted by Alhaji Atta at a fee of GH¢1,200.00 to kill Alice Amma Nimo, aka Alice Agyepong now deceased, because of a matrimonial dispute.
The perpetrators, wearing masks , were alleged to have embarked on their mission from Accra and at 1:30 a.m. arrived at the Nkwabeng residence of the Alice Agyepong and her former husband, who is based in the United States of America. According to the prosecution, they used Sellotape to seal the mouth of the Alice Agyepong, tied her hands and legs and shot her at close range, killing her instantly.
They would reappear before the court on September 3, 2010.
The presiding magistrate, after listening to the appeal for bail for the three accused persons by their counsel, Mr Amoaku Frimpong, refused bail, arguing that he had no jurisdiction to grant bail, since it was a first degree felony.
Mr Mensah added that the decision to remand the accused persons in police custody was to assist in further investigations.
The facts of the case as presented in court by Police Superintendent, Mr F. K. Agyei, were that the complainant in the case, a farmer and a brother to the deceased, said at about 1:30 a.m. on March 19, 2010 the complainant was informed on phone by her niece, Alice Kisiwaa Nimo, that her grandmother, who was the complainant’s sister, had been brutally murdered by some armed men.
Mr Agyei said the complainant rushed to the scene and saw the deceased lying in a pool of blood. He, therefore, reported the case to the police who visited the scene and detected that the alleged armed men entered the room of the deceased through the back door after forcing it open with an object.
The prosecutor told the court that the deceased, who had a gun-shot wound under her left breast, had her mouth sealed with Sellotape with her hands and legs tied while the police also found a mask at the scene.
Mr Agyei said while investigations were ongoing, the police had information that Moro, now at large, went to the garage of Alhaji Atta about one-and-a-half months earlier and threatened to burn all the cars in his garage at Tesano near the Achimota overhead bridge.
He said an informant who heard this persuaded Moro to rescind his decision and leave the issue for him to settle and added that the suspect thereafter disclosed to him (informant) that Alhaji Atta in March 2010 contracted him and Ibrahim to go and kill the Alice for a fee of GH¢1,200.00.
Mr Agyei stated further that Alhaji Atta gave them the picture of the deceased and a Toyota Corolla saloon car driven by Seidu for the trip to Sunyani.
He also added that the three accused arrived in Sunyani on March 19, 2010, killed Alice Agyepong and returned to Accra where they were paid GH¢600.00 out of the GH¢1,200.00.
He said up till date Alhaji Atta had not paid the remainder of the total amount, hence the attack by Moro, and that investigations by the police revealed that the house in which the Alice Agyepong lived was a subject of litigation in a local court in Sunyani.
The prosecutor said just when the case was coming to a close, Alice Agyepong was murdered.
Mr Agyei said it was also learnt that the former husband of the deceased, who was contesting the property with her, came to Ghana on February 26, 2010 and left for the USA on March 21, 2010.

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