Accused person led police to burial spot of
policeman - Witness
Accused person led police to burial spot of
policeman - Witness
Accra (Greater Accra) 28 March 2001
The former Greater-Accra Regional Crime Officer on Tuesday told an Accra High Court that one of the accused persons in the Ablekuma Murder trial volunteered to lead a Police search party to the spot, where Constable Richard Owusu-Sekyere was buried.
Led in evidence by Mr Anthony Gyambiby, Principal State Attorney, Mr David Kwabena Okae told the court that Daniel Mills, the eighth accused person, led the search team to the site after he was arrested.
Mr. Okae, a former Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACOP) said Mills took the search team to a palm tree and pointed to the spot where, he said, Owusu-Sekyere was buried.
When the spot was dug, however, the body of the policeman could not found.
Mills then took the Policemen to a spot about 23 metres away from the palm tree and showed them a building foundation where he said the exhumed body had been reburied.
Witness said with the help of an excavator the place was dug to the depth of about 1.2 metres and the body of Owusu-Sekyere without the left wrist and feet was recovered.
Mr. Okae told the court that the team sent the body, which was badly decomposed, to the Police Hospital Mortuary.
The witness said acting upon a tip-off, the team went to the village again on January 26, 1999 where it recovered the missing parts of the body of the deceased in a bamboo groove and deposited them at the Police Hospital Mortuary.
Nine persons, Joseph Telewu, alias Terminator, Seth Ababio Kissergbi, alias Rasta, Nii Amo Dodoo, William Nii Muetteh Addo, Newland Awayevu, Okyeame Darko Dodoo, Wisdom Awayevu, Mills and Yemo Odai are being tried for their alleged involvement in the murder of the two Policemen in November 1998.
Jerry Wornoo, alias Taller and Owusu-Sekyere, alias Kweku Ninja of the Police Striking Force Unit and the Police Academy and Training School, respectively, were allegedly killed by the accused persons and others at large.
They had gone to Ablekuma to erect pillars on a piece of land they had acquired.
All nine accused persons have pleaded not guilty to two charges of conspiracy to commit crime and murder. Apart from Okyeame Dodoo, who is on bail, the rest are in prison custody.
Mr. Okae said prior to the retrieval of the body of Owusu-Skyere, the body of Constable Jerry Wornoo had been recovered by another search team and deposited at the Police Hospital Mortuary.
Witness said that on May 5, 1999 he caused the names of other accomplices on the run, such as Coach, Makosa, and Theophilus to be published in the Daily Graphic.
The publication, he said, led to the arrest of Wisdom, the seventh accused person, under an assumed name of Kwasi Luga.
Mr Okae told the court that the Police found one AK 47, 35 live ammunitions and other items in the vehicle driven by the two Policemen, who had been arrested by the inhabitants of Ablekuma on November 24, 1998.
Items included three empty shells, six magazine carriers, two haversacks, one pistol purse and two belts.
Mr Okae said that during their operations in connection with the case, the Police arrested a total of 101 inhabitants of Ablekuma. These were made up of 53 women, 38 men and 10 minors. Twelve of whom were detained for questioning after screening.
During cross-examination, witness disagreed with Mr Ahuma Ocansey, counsel for Telewu, Newland and Wisdom, that the two Policemen went there on their private mission, pointing out that since a Policeman is never off-duty, even though the two went to Ablekuma in mufti, they were on duty.
Mr Okae disagreed with a suggestion by counsel that owing to the nature of land litigation at Ablekuma, the two Policemen were in the village "to show the citizens where power lies".
Mr Okae also disagreed with Mr Kwabena Aboagye, counsel for Ababio, Addo and Okyeame Dodoo, that on that fateful day, Okyeame Dodoo was nowhere near the scene of the incident.
Mr Okae said the fact show that Okyeame Dodoo participated actively in the brutalities and subsequent murder of the two Policemen.
The witness said when arrested, Okyeame Dodoo confessed that he was present when the two Policemen attacked one Semevor, and the village's Asafo group. Mr Okae said Okyeame Dodoo said this finally led to their doom.
Mr Okae disagreed with a suggestion by Mr Ayikoi Otoo, counsel for Amo Dodoo, Mills and Odai that he handed over the case to the Bureau of National Investigations, saying that personnel from the BNI were never involved in the case.
To another suggestion by counsel that there were "instructions from above", for the matter to be investigated the witness replied:
"Nobody instructed me. Due to the seriousness of the case, I had to ensure that the matter was duly investigated."
Sitting continues on Wednesday.
GRI…/
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