An Accra Circuit Court has remanded a 36-year-old small-scale miner identified as Prince Asante in police custody for allegedly kidnapping a 27-year-old man.
Prince Asante popularly known as Alley was charged with kidnapping.
Mr Adam Abdul Baasit, counsel for the accused, prayed for bail for his client but the prosecution opposed it and prayed the Court to remand the accused to enable him to lead the Police to the alleged scene of the incident.
The Court presided over by Mr Isaac Addo, declined the application for bail, and remanded the accused person into Police custody.
The accused is expected to make his next appearance on July 4, 2023.
The prosecuting officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Emmanuel Nyamekye, said the complainant was Madam Grace Morgan, a trader.
The prosecution said both the complainant and the accused person, who was also a driver, were residents of Gomoa Fete Kakraba.
It said in 2022, the accused person travelled to Konongo with the complainant’s younger brother Emmanuel Darko popularly known as “Abronuma”.
The prosecution said the accused person later called the complainant to inform her on their way back that they were involved in a motor accident resulting in the death of the victim but had since failed to lead the family to the accident scene or even assisted to trace the whereabouts of the deceased’s body.
It said the accused went into hiding and whenever the complainant called him on the phone, he rained insults on her.
The prosecution said on March 21, 2023, the complainant reported the matter to the Police Missing Persons Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters and upon intelligence, a team of investigators arrested the accused person on June 18, 2023, at Fete Kakraba.
It said the accused person told the Police in 2022, he travelled with the victim and his friends Mike and Kwame Asante to Kumasi on a ‘galamsey’ expedition and on their way back, they were on board his Chevrolet salon car driven by his friend Mike.
“That on reaching a section of the road at Fodua they had a motor accident where the victim died on the spot,” the prosecution added.
It said the accused person in his cautioned statement stated that he fell unconscious but was told by one Mike that the body of the deceased was left in the accident vehicle at the scene.
The prosecution said efforts were underway for the accused person to lead police to arrest the said Mike to assist in the ongoing investigations.
