Tema court shooting was to maintain order – Prisons Service

A shooting incident that occurred at the Tema court on Monday morning was to separate a fight between two convicts, the Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Prisons Service ,  Vitalis Ayeh  has explained.

Gunshots were heard from the Court premises after a proceeding that saw some convicts receiving additional years to their initial sentence of 120 years.

Some had suggested that the shots were fired by some unknown persons who had stormed the court to free the convicts, but according to Mr. Vitalis Aiyeh, that is untrue.

“It is true that there was an incident at the Tema court but it was to check security. 5 prisoners were sent from the Nsawam prison to court. 3 have already been handed a sentence and 2 were standing trial. But they were given an additional sentence of 20 years and that didn't go well with 4 of the prisoners against one, and that brought some confusion and we had to maintain order by giving warning shots.”

“There was a crowd massing in so in order to secure the inmates, the prison officer had to fire the shots… If you have people serving over 100 years, the most important thing was to ensure their security,” Mr Aiyeh said on Eyewitness News.

He said the convicts, who are in jail for armed robbery, are currently safe in the custody of the Prisons Service at the Nsawam Prisons.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana