Kofi Ampeah Woode
A Circuit Court in Accra, presided over by His Honour Samuel Bright Acquah, has revoked bail previously granted to an estate developer – James Okine and two others, for disrespecting the Court’s orders, and thus remanded them into custody.
The court revoked the bail on Monday 20 March, 2023, after it was informed by Inspector Da Costa Bobie Ansah, holding brief for Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Maxwell Oppong, that James, Stephen Okutu Kofi (alias Kofi Santoe) and Benjamin Djanker (aka Asaa) had not being reporting to the Police, as ordered.
James – first accused (A1), Stephen – (A5) and Benjamin – (A6) are standing trial together with Abubakar Issah – (A2), Kamasah Yeboah – (A3) and Ali Amadu – (A4), for they have been accused of conspiracy to commit crime and unlawful protection of land, contrary to Section 23(1) of the Criminal Offence Act 1960 (Act 29) and Section 12 of the Land Act 2020 (Act 1036), charges to which they pleaded not guilty, in a case which has been adjourned to March 28, 2023.
The Facts
When the case was called on January 7, 2023, the court was informed by ASP Maxwell Oppong that the complainant is Godrich Ardey, a businessman who resides at Katamanso in the jurisdiction of the Court.
He added that James Okine, Abubakar Issah, Kamack Yeboah, and Ali Amadu are residents of Zenu-Ashaiman, Teiman and Oyibi respectively.
ASP Oppong told the court that the two other accused – Stephen Okutu Kofi alias Kofi Santoe, and Benjamin Djanker aka Asaa, who should be standing trial with the accused persons, are at large.
According to the prosecuting officer, on January 3, 2023, the complainant reported to the Police that his family owns 1.625.474 acres of land at Katamanso covered by a Land Title Certificate.
In addition to the Land Title Certificate as proof, the complainant also produced a Power-of-Attorney from his family to back his assertions.
Verifying the documents submitted by the accused, Police investigations revealed that the complainant’s family have possessed the land for several decades.
The Court was also informed that the complainant’s family had leased portions of the land to some estate companies who have built estate houses on the land without any challenges.
The first accused who also is the owner of Greenlake Estate Ltd, is accused to have recruited land guards unto the family land to protect him and his workers, while they unlawfully graded the land and commenced development.
The prosector told the Court that on January 5, 2023, the Police visited the said plot with the complainant and found Kamack and Amadu using a payloader to grade the complainant’s family land, while Issah, Okutu and Benjamin, provided protection to the illegal works.
Kamack and Amadu were arrested and whiles the case was being investigated, Okine visited the Police Station and was also arrested.
On this count, they were charged and arraigned, while efforts were made to arrest the two other accused persons.
