Crime & Punishment of Sunday, 1 September 2024

Source: GNA

Two police constables remanded for robbery

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An Accra Circuit Court has remanded two off-duty police constables in custody after they attacked an Okada rider and stole GH¢3,700.

General Lance Corporals Philmon Agbevem and Peter Kwame Badagbor, both stationed at the Accra Central District Police Command, have been charged with conspiracy to commit a crime and robbery.

The accused were said to have forced the complainant to transfer money from his mobile phone to another phone registered in the name of one Hope Alorvordzi.

The two, represented by their counsel, Andy Vortia, have denied all charges. They are due to appear before the court, presided over by Evelyn Asamoah, on September 10, 2024.

The prosecutor, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Kofi Anane, led by ASP Emmanuel Haligah, told the court that the complainant, Emmanuel Amertodor, is an Okada rider who lives in Adenta.

On July 21, 2024, the two off-duty police officers, on a motorcycle with registration number GP 8145, apprehended the complainant based on information that he and his pillion rider had stolen a purse containing a mobile phone and other personal effects from a lady at the National Theatre and were heading towards the Thomas Sankara roundabout.

According to the prosecution, the accused, dressed in their uniforms and armed with a rifle, trailed the motorcyclists and stopped them at the Christ the King traffic light in front of the Jubilee House.

In trying to apprehend them, the rider escaped, but the pillion rider, the complainant, was arrested.

The prosecution said the two police officers subjected the complainant to severe beatings and handcuffed him. They forcefully transferred GH¢3,700 from the complainant’s phone to a mobile phone number registered under the name Hope Alorvordzi and then took GH¢120 from him.

The prosecution said the complainant reported the matter to the police at Cantonments for investigations, and then to the Criminal Investigations Department, Headquarters, for further investigation.

The accused were apprehended on August 8, 2024, and during interrogation, they admitted to arresting the complainant on July 21, 2024, but denied robbing him of the sum stated on the charge sheet.