Slain soldier at Ashaiman: Police forward docket on 2 suspects to A-G

The police have forwarded the docket on two suspects arrested in connection with the killing of 21-year-old soldier, Private Imoro Sherrif, at Ashaiman in the Greater Accra Region to the Attorney-General's (A-G) office for advice.

Samuel Tetteh, 20, aka Wiper, unemployed, and Abubakar Sadick, 20, aka Birdman Naadu, a scrap dealer, have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder.

This follows investigations by the police, who have since charged the two — out of six persons arrested over the murder of the soldier.

When the two appeared before the District Magistrate Court in Tema presided over by Benedicta Antwi last Monday, the prosecutor, Superintendent Sylvester Asare, told the court that a duplicate docket was ready and had been forwarded to the office of the A-G for study and advice.

He appealed to the court to remand the accused persons under the circumstances.

The magistrate, Benedicta Antwi, granted the prayer and remanded the accused persons to reappear on April 11, 2023.

The two were among six suspects arrested between March 9 and 12, 2023, at different locations.

Second case

Meanwhile, Tetteh and Sadick have been remanded also by the Ashaiman Circuit Court.

The two and the other four were sent to the Ashaiman Circuit Court for prosecution last Monday.

The four others are Ibrahim Abdul Rakib, Safianu Musah (aka Dayorgu), Yusif Mohammed and Abdul Gafaru Abdul Karim.

Tetteh and Sadick are facing charges of robbery and stealing at the circuit court, while the other four are facing charges of dishonestly receiving stolen items at the same court.

The Ashaiman Circuit Court, presided over by Simon Gaga, refused a repeat bail application by Abdul Fatawu Alhassan, lawyer for Abdul Rakib, Safianu Musah and Abdul Gafaru Abdul Karim.

Yusif Mohammed, the fifth accused person who was represented by his lawyer, Ishahadu Mohamed, was also denied bail.

Prosecutor’s prayer

The prosecutor, Superintendent Asare, who is also Director of Legal, Criminal Investigations Department of the Police Service, renewed his prayer for an adjournment to allow for continued investigations into the case, which, he said, had reached an advanced stage.

Defence counsels, however, opposed the plea by the prosecution, stressing that the prosecution had been given ample time to conclude their investigations.

They urged the court to exercise its discretion and grant the accused persons bail as they would be available to stand trial at any point in time.

The court asked the prosecution to expedite investigations and conclude it before the next adjourned date.

The accused persons are to re-appear on April 11, 2023.

Background

On March 4, 2023, police received information that a male adult had been found lying dead at Ashaiman Taifa in the Greater Accra Region.

According to the police, the crime scene team retrieved a number of items, including a knife with blood stains and a backpack, in the course of investigations.

In the backpack, police found one Samsung tablet, one Apple laptop, one military uniform with the name tag "Imoro", eight other items of clothing, as well as a Ghana Card and a Health Insurance card bearing the name Imoro Sherrif.

The police said the content of the backpack suggested the victim could be a soldier, so the military was notified of the incident, and the deceased was subsequently identified by the military as Imoro Sheriff, a soldier.

The prosecution said two of the accused persons attempted to rob the soldier, and in the process, one of them stabbed him in the arm, while the other four bought a stolen mobile phone taken from the soldier, now deceased.