Kumasi, May 18, GNA - Five persons arrested on suspicion of murdering a soldier at North Suntreso in Kumasi on April 25, were on Monday remanded into prison custody by a Kumasi Circuit Court. The suspects are Atta Gyamfi Junior and Atta Gyamfi Senior, both unemployed, Daniel Owusu Gyamfi, plumber, Kofi Adu, signwriter and Kwabena Poku, an electric welder.

They are on provisional charges of conspiring to commit crime and murder.

Their pleas were not taken and they would re-appear on May 31. Prosecuting, Police Inspector Seth Amofa said the deceased who was attached to the Armed Forces Northern Command in Kumasi visited a friend at North Suntreso and saw a group of people smoking Indian hemp. The Soldier attempted to arrest one of them but the five persons, together with others now on the run, attacked him, calling him a thief. Sensing danger, the deceased took to his heels as members of the group, armed with knives, sticks and stones, pursued him and lynched him.

He said some witnesses who saw the suspects commit the crime reported the incident to the assembly member for the area who also informed the police.

Mr Paul Adu-Gyamfi, counsel for Poku and Adu, pleaded for bail for his clients, arguing that, police investigations had failed to link them with the crime.

Another lawyer, Mr Kwasi Dapaah, who is also representing Atta Junior and Atta Senior, told the court that his clients were innocent and that the police should look for the real culprits who were on the run.