An individual identified as Prince Asante, also known as “Alley,” a 36-year-old small-scale miner, has been remanded by an Accra Circuit Court on charges of kidnapping a 27-year-old man. The accused did not enter a plea as the prosecution requested more time to conclude their investigation.
During the court proceedings, Adam Abdul Baasit, the counsel for the accused, sought bail for his client. However, the prosecution opposed the bail application, urging the court to remand the accused in police custody to facilitate the process of locating the alleged accident scene.
The presiding judge, Isaac Addo, denied the request for bail and ordered the accused to be remanded in police custody. The accused is scheduled to appear in court again on July 4, 2023.
According to the prosecution, the complainant in the case is Madam Grace Morgan, a trader. Both the complainant and the accused, who worked as a driver, resided in Gomoa Fete Kakraba.
The prosecution outlined that in 2022, the accused and the complainant’s younger brother, Emmanuel Darko, known as “Abronuma” (the victim), traveled to Konongo together. Subsequently, the accused contacted the complainant to inform her that they had been involved in a motor accident on their way back, resulting in the victim’s death. However, the accused failed to lead the family to the accident scene or assist in locating the victim’s body.
The accused then went into hiding and responded to the complainant’s phone calls with insults. As a result, on March 21, 2023, the complainant reported the incident to the Police Missing Persons Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters. Acting on intelligence, a team of investigators arrested the accused on June 18, 2023, in Fete Kakraba.
During police questioning, the accused stated that in 2022, he, the victim, and two others named Mike and Kwame Asante had embarked on a galamsey expedition to Kumasi. On their return journey, the accused claimed that they were involved in a motor accident at a section of the road in Fodua, where the victim tragically lost his life. The accused mentioned that he fell unconscious but was informed by one Mike that the deceased’s body had been left in the accident vehicle at the scene.
The prosecution disclosed that efforts were being made to locate and apprehend the aforementioned Mike to assist in the ongoing investigation.
