Crowd besieges court

A LARGE crowd yesterday thronged the premises of an Accra High Court to catch a glimpse of the nine accused persons, especially Joseph Telewu, alias Terminator, who were allegedly involved in the murder of two policemen at Ablekuma, near Accra, in November 1998.

The crowd included family members of the deceased, friends and sympathisers as well as family members of the accused persons and a cross-section of the public.

The deceased persons, Jerry Wornoo, alias Taller, of the Police Striking Force Unit, and Richard Owusu Sekyere, alias Kweku Ninja, of the Police Academy and Training School, were said to have gone to the village to erect pillars on a piece of land they had acquired but were captured by a group of people in the village, who brutally assaulted and later killed them.

The nine accused persons are Joseph Telewu, alias Terminator; Seth Ababio Kissergbi, alias Rasta; Nii Amo Dodoo; William Nii Muetteh Addo; Newland Awayevu; Okyeame Darko Dodoo; Wisdom Awayevu, alias Kwasi Luga; Daniel Mills, alias Black or Fussy and Yemo Odai, alias Joe Shanton.

They have all pleaded not guilty to the charges and apart from Okyeame Darko Dodoo, who is on bail, the remaining eight people are on remand in prison custody.

Speaking under cross examination by Mr Ayikwei Otoo, counsel for Amo Dodoo, Mills and Yemo Odai, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Mr S. K. Appiah told the court that he led three groups of policemen on separate occasions to Ablekuma to search for the bodies of the two deceased policemen and to arrest the perpetrators of the crime after the police had had information about the death of their colleagues.

He further told the court presided over by Mrs B. Agyeman-Bempah that December 3, 1998, he led a team of 343 policemen to Ablekuma and 133 policemen to the village on December 11, 1998. ACP Appiah said he led yet another 135 police officers to the village on December 18, 1998 for the same purpose.

Asked about what type of munitions the police carried along during the operation, Mr Appiah said some of the personnel carried AK 476 rifles, whilst others carried tear gas canisters and others carried long batons.

He, however and did not agree with counsel that the police went to the village only to intimidate the villagers with the large number of police officers and explained that the police had information that there were people in the village who were armed and the police did not want to be overwhelmed, which was why they were also armed.

Mr Appiah again refuted allegations that the police personnel vandalised the village, arrested everybody in the village except an old lady and a child and eventually brutalised those they arrested, arguing that the police arrested the accused persons and others in order to interrogate them based on information they had.

Counsel: In the course of your operation, some houses were set ablaze and destroyed.

Witness: That is not correct.

Counsel: You fired AK 47 indiscriminately in the village.

Witness: That is not true.

Counsel: Before the operation, were you told that the villagers themselves had reported the incident to the Odorkor Police?

Witness: I was not informed.

Mr Asiamah Sampong, a State Attorney, represented the Republic whilst Mr Ahumah Ocansey, an Accra legal practitioner, appeared for Telewu, Newland and Wisdom, with Mr Kwabena Aboagye appearing for Ababio, Muetteh Addo and Okyeame Darko and Mr Ayikwei Otoo appeared for Amo Dodoo, Mills and Yemo Odai