Driver testifies in Amina's case

The driver of the Yutong bus at the centre of the highway rape and robbery story Monday appeared at an Accra Circuit Court, presided over by Mrs Mills-Tetteh, to testify in the prosecution of Amina Mohammed, the woman at the centre of the case.

The driver, Mr Sam Asiedu Sasu, in his evidence-in-chief, told the packed court that he was the driver of the commercial vehicle, with registration number GN 263-l0 that plied the Accra- Tamale- Bolgatannga route.

He explained that on the day of the alleged robbery incident, October 11, 2010, he loaded passengers at the Neoplan Station at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle and eventually set off on his journey about 10 p.m.

He said there was a cargo truck in front of him on reaching the Kubease Customs barrier and he found that a number of logs had been used to block the toad.

He said the truck hit the barricade and went through it and that no sooner had his vehicle left the barricade behind than a gunshot went through the windscreen of his bus.

He said he and the passengers on board his bus got frightened but he managed to drive to Kubease and made a stop-over to remove a log that had been trapped beneath the bus.

Mr Sasu, who was in court in a bandage from a wound he sustained in an accident that occurred shortly after the alleged rape story, indicated that following the gunnshots on the bus, he lodged a report at the Ejisu Police Station in the Ashanti Region, where a combined team of policemen and the military inspected the bus and his statement taken, after which he was issued with a police report.

He said he continued the journey and made a stop-over at Kintampo at day break to allow Muslim passengers on the vehicle to say their morning prayers, while others also attended to other interests, after which they continued the journey until they reached Tamale and Bolgatanga, where the passengers alighted.

He told the court that after reaching Bolgatanga, he returned to Tamale, where he called a photographer to take pictures of the broken windscreen of the bus, after which he was given passengers to transport to Accra.

He said while in Tamale, he received a call from somebody who claimed he was speaking, from the Police Headquarters enquiring about the veracity of the gunshots on the bus, to which he (Sasu) answered in the affirmative.

When asked if he knew Amina Mohammed, he answered in the negative, saying that the only place he had met her was the Ejisu Police Station where he had gone to make a report regarding the gunshot on his bus.

Amina and her counsel, Mr Andy Appiah-Kubi, were both in court.

The case was adjourned to Tuesday.