Benlord Ababio aka Nana Barima Ababio, a self-acclaimed traditional ruler who shot and killed a soldier at Millennium City, Kasoa in the Central Region, has been remanded into prison custody by a High Court in Accra yesterday.
He made his first appearance before the High Court yesterday together with Nana Amo Sekyere, where they pleaded not guilty to the charge of conspiracy to commit murder and Benlord alone pleaded not guilty to a substantive charge of murder.
Ababio allegedly shot the late soldier who had gone to the Millennium City Police Station to report an incident of trespassing on a half plot of land which is a subject of litigation.
Lawyers for the two took turns to plead with the court to grant them bail pending trial, while reminding the court that Nana Amo Sekyere was already on a bail granted by the Amasaman High Court.
They also told the court that Benlord was undergoing medical treatment hence he should be granted bail so that he could continue with his treatment.
The bail applications were opposed by Perpetual Dufie Prempeh, a Principal State Attorney who argued that Benlord will be given adequate medical attention at the Nsawam Prison where there is a functioning medical centre.
She said any serious medical condition is referred to a hospital for attention, so he should be remanded into prison custody with an order on the prison authority to ensure his medical needs are attended to.
In the case of Nana Amo Sekyere, Ms. Prempeh told the court that the Amasaman High Court was not presented with the full fact of the case which was why it granted the accused bail.
She further stated that it was now a fresh matter before the court hence it had the power to rescind the earlier bail granted and remand the accused.
Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, a Justice of the Court of Appeal sitting as an additional High Court Judge, upheld the bail granted to Sekyere but revised the bail sum to GH₵1 million with two sureties.
The sureties are to present documents of a landed property worth the bail sum or more and the Registrar of the court is to ensure the documents have been endorsed by the Lands Commission.
Benlord was remanded into prison custody and the prison officers were ordered to make sure to he receives adequate medical attention if there is indeed a need for that.
The prosecution was ordered to file its disclosures before the next court date on October 30, 2024.
Brief Facts
The prosecution’s brief fact indicates that the deceased, Lance Corporal Michael Danso, was a military officer stationed at the Army Base Workshop at Burma Camp.
It states that on April 30, 2024, at about 4pm, the deceased together with his two colleagues – Lance Corporal Abdul Omar Rahman and Lance Corporal Ametus Matthew went to Millennium City Police Station on board a Toyota RAV4 with registration number 3591-24 to report a case of trespass.
It said this was upon information that some encroachers were developing a parcel of land belonging to Lance Corporal Abdul Omar Rahman.
The fact said the accused appeared at the police station, attacked, and opened fire severally on Lance Corporal Michael Danso, who was in charge of the steering wheel of the Toyota RAV 4×4 vehicle, killing him instantly.
It added that the accused was immediately disarmed and arrested, and was subsequently arraigned for the court to remand him pending further investigations.
Source:dailyguidenetwork.com