Accused persons in Caprice robbery case move to High Court for bail
An Accra High Court will on February 7, hear a bail application put in by three out five accused persons arrested in connection with Caprice robbery incident, which took place on December 9, 2022.
The three had gone to the High Court after an Accra Circuit Court had declined them bail on the grounds that they were flight risk, and they had no fixed place of abode.
The applicants have been accused of robbing a Chinese woman of GH¢370,000 which she had cashed from Standard Chartered Bank, GH¢40,000 which she had in her bag, $8,000 and two iPhones.
The Defence Counsel Edward Nana Asare had debunked the States claim that they had no fixed place of abode.
The Counsel said his clients had fixed places of abode and that they were in gainful employment.
The accused persons are: Prince Anthony Chiobi, Izuchukwu Igwenagu and Ahamafula Onwukwa.
One Emmanuella, a pregnant woman among them, has been admitted to GH¢100,000 bail by the Circuit Court while Godfred Chukuebuka aka Caleb, is serving 10 years sentence in a similar offence.
Yaw John Darko Ikenna, an accomplice, is said to be at large.
The State in an affidavit in opposition to the bail application held that if the applicants were granted bail, they would not appear to stand trial and that the Circuit Court trying the accused persons had given an indication of an expeditious trial.
According to the State, all the applicants were foreign nationals.
It said Onwukwa (one of the applicants) in his caution statement to the Police had allegedly indicated that he was in the country illegally and that he was living in the country as a squatter at Kantamanto June fourth, in Accra.
According to the State, Police Intelligence had revealed that the second applicant (Igwenagu) was part of a criminal syndicate that shot and robbed the Chinese woman at Caprice on December 9, 2022.
It added that the applicant was also in the country illegally.
In the case of Chiobi, the State argued that he was not only involved in the instant robbery case but he also “buys stolen items from other suspects after their robberies and re-sell”.
The State said among the items seized from Chiobi was a laptop stolen from the Kaneshie West 1Basic School provided by the Government of Ghana to the School.
On December 9, 2022, the Accra Regional Police Command had information that some armed men on motorbikes had attacked, shot and robbed a Chinese woman of some valuables at Caprice, a suburb in Accra.
The regional police, on receipt of the information, dispatched police personnel to the scene to ascertain the act and investigate.
On reaching the scene, the victim informed the police that the robbers took her GH¢370,000, which she had earlier cashed from the Standard Chartered Bank West Hills Mall branch on the day of the incident.
The victim said she also had cash in the sum of GH¢40,000 and $8,000 as well as two iPhones (iPhone 11 and 8+), all stolen.
When the police got to the hideout of the suspects, they (suspects) allegedly engaged in a shootout resulting in the deaths of Nneji Harrison Ogbonna and another suspect.
The accused persons were later apprehended, while others escaped.
During investigations, it emerged that the suspects met at Igwenagu’s drinking spot at Buduburam and planned the crime.
According to the prosecution, investigations revealed that Ikenna, now at large, had agreed with Godfred Chukubuka, who had been convicted for 10 years by another Circuit Court for a similar offence, to commit the crime.
The investigation also indicated that the accused persons entered Ghana through unapproved routes to commit crime and go back.
The prosecution said the police had received information that Ikenna was hiding in Nigeria and that he had sent GH¢1,300 as transportation for his wife (Emmanuella, the third accused person) to join him in Nigeria.
All five have been charged with conspiracy to commit robbery and robbery.
Source: GNA