Adum Afrancho Alleged Murder: Police Officer Granted Bail Amidst Tension
There was immense tension at the forecourt of the Asokwa District Court after presiding judge Her Honour Kizita Naa Koowa Quarshie had granted Chief Inspector Emmanuel Opoku Addai of the Kokoben Police Station, a “self recognizance bail.”
A heavy police presence prevented a chaotic scene by some aggrieved residents from Adum Afrancho who would not agree with the court’s decision.
On Sunday, July 3, a 23-year-old bar operator, Samuel Yeboah was stabbed multiple times in the early hours of the day, in a scuffle.
A protracted chieftaincy and land dispute have gripped Adum Afrancho, a small community in the Atwima Kwanwoma District of the Ashanti Region.
The seven-year-old dispute has seen major clashes between two feuding royal families.
Sunday’s bloody attack was the second.
An officer stationed at the Kokoben Police Station, Chief Inspector Emmanuel Opoku Addai is being tried for his alleged role in the death of Samuel Yeboah.
6 persons are currently standing trial.
At the Asokwa district court 2 on Tuesday, five of the accused persons appeared before the court.
Akwasi Brefo Manu, aka ‘K Man’ is the prime suspect is currently on admission at the Dominase Hospital. He was charged with Murder.
The chief of Adum Afrancho, Nana Osei Yaw I, Kwaku Amankwaa, Akwasi Addai and Kwame Darko who could not appear in court because of injury were all charged with “Rioting and Possession of offensive weapons.”
They were granted a GHS30,000 bail with a surety each.
The accused persons presented a 3-member defence counsel who argued that “they are law-abiding citizens and cannot interfere with the investigation” if given a temporal relief.
One of the councils had also cited Lawyer Martin Kpebu’s case ruling by the supreme court which states “a case still under investigation should not be a barrier to the granting of bail” to cushion their argument.
Despite, a counter argument by the prosecutor, ASP Kofi Blakodzie on “they interfering investigation and also ensuring the accused security” to keep them in custody, it is the defence counsel who rather, convinced the presiding judge.
“Because we don’t want to have a problem with the constitutional mandated 48 hours we rushed them to court for them to be remanded whiles we continue with our investigations but, the court has exercised her discretion,” ASP Blakodzie told William Evans-Nkum.
The next hearing is July 15.