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The Kaneshie District Court has placed the Klagon chief, Nii Bortey Klan I, and six other people in pre-trial detention on charges of causing the death of one Ibrahim Mohammed Abass on a plot of land.
The six, supposed earth guards, are Hamidu Fuseini alias Sankara; Tahiru Mamudu; Aaron Jacob; Latif Moro; Kwaku Anane, also known as Kobo; and Richard Annang Kotey.
They face one charge of conspiracy to assassinate and murder.
What started as a fight for land ownership in Klagon, according to the prosecutor, ended with the kidnapping of Abass, who was tortured and eventually killed and thrown into the jungle in Klagon.
The court, chaired by Ms Ama Adomko Kwakye, did not accept her pleas.
Three others: Abdul Baasi Mohammed, alias Awudu Buju; Yahaya Mohammed, also known as Olu; and Osmanu Ibrahim are at large.
The defendants will reappear on Thursday, February 18.
Paul Asibi Abariga, who represented the six, said his clients were not land guards, as was claimed.
He said the facts, as presented by the prosecution, did not support the charges, and he prayed to the court to fire his clients.
He said the narrative by the prosecutor, Inspector Richard Amoah, was an attempt to fabricate and fabricate stories against the defendants, who were detained at various locations.
The lawyer said that Nii Klan, as the traditional ruler, knew the implications of the murder, therefore he would not commit such a crime.
He said it was also wrong for the prosecution to accuse him of hiring the six as land guards.
Kojo Osei-Odame, attorney for Kotey, one of the defendants, prayed to the court to instruct the prosecution to take his client to the hospital because he was ill.
The Court, after hearing the lawyers and the prosecutor, declined the request for the release of the accused.
However, he urged the prosecution to ensure that the accused received the necessary medical attention.
Inspector Amoah had previously told the court that Nii Klan hired some of the defendants as land guards, while Fuseini was his right hand man.
However, Kotey was a film actor and Nii Klan confidant.
Inspector Amoah told the court that, having been vested with the authority by the Nii Klan to protect the lands in Klagon, the accused persons and the fugitives, sometime in 2020, were instructed by the Nii Klan to prevent Abass from developing parts of the land at the Ramsar Site.
Abass was previously a confidant and instrumental in installing the boss.
However, after a protracted dispute over the land parcel, Abass defected to the rival faction in the general land dispute in the area.
The prosecution said Abass defied the directive not to develop the disputed land, resulting in a physical confrontation with the defendants, who destroyed the basic structures Abass had built amid death threats.
Furthermore, Nii Klan initiated a civil action against Abass and Gabriel Akotia.
The prosecution said the chief also conspired with Anane, Kotey and Mohammed to kill Abass.
The three and their accomplices allegedly met at Nii Klan’s home on the morning of November 15 last year in Klagon to execute their plan.
Abass was later attacked by Fuseini and four other people while riding his motorcycle to his private residence.
Abass was kidnapped amid gunfire and put in Fuseini’s vehicle and driven to an unknown destination.
However, Abass’s son, who came across the attack on his father, informed his mother and a report was made to the Klagon District Police Command.
Inspector Amoah said the district commander later called Fuseini on his cell phone to introduce Abass to the station, but he ignored him.
With the collusion of his accomplices, according to the prosecutor, Fuseini murdered Abass and dumped his body in a Klagon bush.
Subsequently, Abass’s body was transferred to the morgue of the Police Hospital, where a post-mortem examination, conducted by Dr. Stephen Annan and Dr. Osei Owusu-Afriyie, indicated that the preliminary cause of death was ” Asphyxiation, strangulation and alleged murder. ”
Meanwhile, the prosecutor said that investigations had revealed that after Abass’s abduction, he was taken to Nii Klan’s home and then taken to the Ramsar Klagon site, where he was tortured to death.
He said there was evidence of a telephone conversation between the Nii Klan and his accomplices before, during and after the crime.
—GNA
