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03.05.2012 Crime & Punishment

Three to stand trial for Roko Frimpong, Nii Quartey murder

By Daily Graphic
The late Mr. Rrokko FrimpongThe late Mr. Rrokko Frimpong
03.05.2012 LISTEN

A bill of indictment is currently being prepared for the prosecution of three suspects who have been implicated in the gruesome murder of Roko Frimpong, a Deputy Managing Director of the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), and Nii Kwaatei Quartey, a retired member of staff of the Public Works Department (PWD), in 2007.

The suspects, who are currently on remand, are Samuel McCarthy, William Agbavor and Atta Kakra.

They will be tried on two counts of conspiracy to commit murder and murder.

Two other persons, identified as Tahiru Adams and Jonathan Abi, alias Joe, have also been implicated but they are said to be on the run.

Police investigations have also established that while Nii Quartey's murder was a contract killing, that of Roko Frimpong occurred when he resisted the demands of members of a robbery gang, some of whom were later contracted to kill Nii Quartey.

The Attorney-General's (A-G's) Department has also requested for further information and clarification to help establish the involvement of a seventh person (name withheld).

The information being demanded is an analysis of the itemised mobile phone bills of one of the suspects and the seventh person.

A number of people have been in and out of custody in connection with the two murders since the incident took place within the Tema and Sakumono catchment areas in 2007.

However, the Director of Operations of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Mr Frank Kwoffie, told graphic.com.gh Wednesday that the A-G's Department had recommended the prosecution of the three persons on remand.

He explained that the police would always act on any tangible information provided them but indicated that if the information could not be used to hold onto any suspect, then it meant those suspects would be freed.

Responding to questions by this reporter in respect of a petition by the late Nii Quartey's family, Mr Kwoffie explained that rumours and suspicions were not evidence and could not be used in any court of law.

Expatiating further on the issue, he said although the deceased's family believed that it was his rivals who had ordered his killing, there was no evidence to that effect.

According to him, the family had always cited alleged verbal threats and the casting of insinuations as evidence that it was Nii Quartey's rivals who were responsible for his murder.

He said all those issues were included in the police report to the A-G's Department but the department said it could not hold in court, especially when some of the people mentioned in the report also denied it.

“The evidence to support the suspicion is crucial,” he added.

Mr Kwoffie said what had been established was the fact that Adam Tahiru, one of the wanted persons, was the leader of the killers.

He explained that although one of the suspects in custody, Samuel McCarthy, had given a description of the alleged contractor, it did not fit any of those initially arrested who were from Nii Quartey's rival faction.

For instance, whereas McCarthy had put the age of the alleged contractor at between 30 and 40 years, some of the suspected contractors were aged between 50 and 80 years.

According to him, Tahiru's arrest would be crucial in establishing the alleged contractor.

In their April 12, 2012 petition to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), the family complained that “the suspects who are moving about freely are a threat to the rest of the family members of the deceased”.

The late Roko Frimpong was shot by some unidentified armed men at his Tema residence on June 28, 2007, while Nii Quartey was gunned down at his Tema Community Nine residence on July 17, 2007.

Prior to his death, Nii Quartey was involved in a land dispute with some members of his kin at Berekuso.

Apart from winning a case in court over the land, he and his rivals had been in and out of the Police Headquarters over the enforcement of the court order.

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