*By Larry-Alans Dogbey*

The Tema-based Adom 106.3 FM radio station, owned by the Multimedia Group owners of Joy 99.7 FM, has some tough explanation to do to extricate itself from what is turning out to be another piece of reckless journalism, as the driver of the Tamale-bound bus, Samuel Asiedu Sasu, has completely denied the highway mass rape story.

He has also torn apart the claim of the woman behind the story, Anima Mohammed, a resident of Ashaiman, that he was ordered by the gun-wielding robbers to have sex with three women in turns after which he collapsed and had to be resuscitated by his passengers.

Police insiders told The Herald that Mr. Sasu, 54 and a worker of a transport company called Sam-Geo Logistics further denied Amina’s claim that his passengers were robbed of all their belongings.

None of the 47 passengers onboard the bus, a Chinese-made Yutong bus with registration number GN 2620 -10, was touched nor hurt. He gave October 11, 2010, as the date of the incident, at Kubuase, near Ejisu, in Ashanti, as the venue of the incident.

Amina Mohammed who gave her age as 24-years, a mother of three children and a divorcee resident at Ashaiman-New Town, had mentioned Kimtampo as the place of the attack.

What is intriguing is that a Belgium lady by name Framke Maekeldega, according to the Police Director of Public Relations, Superintendent Kwesi Ofori, has also submitted a statement to the Police and denied the episode and even praised the driver.

Another passenger called Seidu, a watchman at Opebea House, near Kotoka International Airport in Accra, has also told the Police that nobody was raped, robbed, hurt or injured.

Mr. Sasu revealed that although his bus, together with two cargo trucks were shot at by some robbers, he and the other drivers managed to flee from the attackers and reported the case to the Ejisu Police and not at Kimtampo in the Brong Ahafo Region, as claimed by Amina Mohammed on Adom FM.

A near-scuffled ensued between a Police officer at the Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and three workers of Adom FM, including the Deputy News Editor, Afia Pokua and Bill Gbogli alias Papa Bills, when the Adom FM team blocked attempts by this reporter to take a picture of Amina Mohammed.

Their explanation was that Anima insists that she feels threatened and that she doesn’t want her image put in public domain. One Cephas Mgdemador, also of Ashaiman said to be a boyfriend of Amina, was said to have led her to the Adom FM, where she narrated what she claimed she went through in the Kintampo incident.

Anima was not interviewed by the radio station until the next day when she was interviewed on the Work and Happiness Programme, on Wednesday, October 27, hosted by a one Jerry Justice, a trained plumber -turned radio presenter, meaning the station had ample time to crosscheck Amina’s claims.

Meanwhile, Amina during police interrogation, said that she cannot say for sure whether her mother, one Fati with whom she was travelling with to Tamale to attend her father’s (Bukari) funeral, was also raped by the robbers or not.

She had earlier claimed that her mother was not raped because she was also described as “bad luck” by the robbers because she (Amina) had told the robbers that she was in her menstrual period and so she was allowed to go scot-free, together with her mother.

Interestingly, Amina has refused to lead the Police to her Ashaiman to seek audience with her mother, Fati, saying she doesn’t want to be embarrassed.

The driver who said he lives at Bubiashie in Accra and hails from Asante Akyem in the Ashanti Region, on his part, told the police that on October 11, at about 10:00pm, he loaded the bus with passengers at the Neoplan Station at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle to Tamale, Bolga-Bawku, but on reaching Kubease after the Customs Barrier near Ejisu, he saw the two cargo trucks loaded with goods moving ahead of him and heading towards the direction of Kumasi.

He saw that some armed men had used a log to block the road.

The truck drivers ahead of him did not stop but drove pass the logs.

The robbers started shooting at the three of them and shot at his windscreen in the process but did not stop. He also went away to the next town called Kubease, where he eventually caught up with the other drivers; they all stopped and inspected the damage caused to their vehicles.

All three of them, later drove to the Ejisu Police Station and made a complaint and continued their journey.

He alighted some of the passengers in Tamale, Bolga and Bawku, and came back to Accra the following day. He said he sent the vehicle to the shop for repairs.

Later, an extract of occurrence was prepared by the Ejisu Police in respect of the incident, which he submitted to the State Insurance Corporation, the insurers of the vehicle for claims.

His vehicle was subsequently fixed and has since started working with it.

Later in an interview, Superintendent Kwesi Ofori commended the GPRTU for assisting the police in its investigations. He praised the drivers for putting in place a system where the telephone numbers of passengers are taken so they could be traced anytime.

He maintained that the police are still investigating the matter they have gotten the station dairy from the Ejisu Police in which the incident was logged, and will go public with the fact as and when it is available.