No one was raped on 'Amina bus' - Missionary

Amina Mohammed

An Ahmaddiya Muslim missionary has dispelled the claim by Amina Mohammed that armed robbers attacked an Accra-Tamale.

Bolga-Bawku bound bus on October 11, and forced the male passengers on board to rape their female counterparts.

"It is not true that armed robbers attacked us. That did not happen," Mr. Ahmed Boahen, told the court yesterday during cross-examination, after his evidence-in-chief as the second prosecution witness.

Led in evidence by Paul Asibi Abariga, a State Attorney, Mr. Boahen told the court that the only incident that occurred during the journey was when a gunshot was fired at the Yuton bus.

He told the Accra Circuit Court presided over by Mrs. Patience Mills-Tetteh that not long after the bus took off from the Neoplan Station in Accra on October II, between 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., he slept.

"On the way, I suddenly heard a 'pooh' sound. Initially, I thought it was a tyre burst but later got to know it was armed robbers who have shot at the bus but the driver did not stop," he told the court in Twi.

Amina is facing charges of publishing false news with intent to cause fear and alarm, and deceiving a public officer, and has since November 5, been granted bail by the Accra Human Rights Court.

The young mother of three was charged following her comments on a private radio that male passengers on board a Tamale-bound bus on which she was travelling, were forced by armed robbers to rape the female passengers after robbing-them.

Mr Boahen, who said he is stationed at Chereponi in the Northern Region, told the court that after driving for sometime, the driver of the bus stopped at a place which he later identified during cross examination as Kubease.

There, he said, they got down together with the driver to inspect a dented number plate and the damage caused by the gun shot before continuing their journey. Again, he said, the driver made a second stop at a place he could not name.

He said the driver of the bus got down for about 20 minutes; which according to him, no one on board was privy to.

According to Mr. Boahen, they did not stop anywhere again until they got to Kintampo at daybreak where they stopped for some of the passengers to brush their teeth, eat and buy bread.

"We then continued our journey and nothing happened as at the time I got down in Tamale," he told the court.

Days later, he said, he had a phone call from someone who introduced himself as a police officer and asked him some questions about an armed robbery case involving the bus on which he travelled on October 11.

He said the said officer invited him to Accra to assist in police investigations to find out the truth about the case. This, he said, was after the officer had told him where he had his (Boahen's) contact number from.

According to him, the officer told him he had the telephone number from a duplicate ticket from the transport company's records.

The ticket, which had his telephone number and seat number 20 was tendered in evidence by the prosecution.

Cross-examined by Mr Andy Appiah-Kubi, counsel for Amina, Mr Boahen said he does not know the name of the transport company whose bus he travelled on October II.

He also told the court that he did not see any of the armed robbers who fired at the bus neither did he see where the gunshot was fired from, adding "but I saw where the bullet hit"

He said there were two other vehicles which had stopped at Kubease at the time they made their stop, but he was unable to tell the court the reason why those two vehicles had stopped.

Asked by counsel whether all the passengers had their names and telephone numbers written on their tickets, Mr. Boahen said he could not tell but said anytime that he had picked a car from that company, his number is always written on the ticket.

The case continues Tuesday afternoon with further cross-examination.