Three people have appeared before an Accra Circuit Court on charges that they pulled down a two-story structure at Cantonments in Accra that was worth $2.2 million. Mohammed Awudu Lamin, a 32-year-old trailer driver; Enoch Magbah, a 48-year-old carpenter; and Mohammed Harrison, an excavator operator, are the three defendants accused with breaking and entering, conspiring to conduct a crime, and causing unlawful damage. The defendants have entered a not-guilty plea.
The defendants were granted bail in the amount of GHS 2 million cedis each with two sureties, one of whom had to be justified by owning land with title deeds, according to the court presided over by Mrs. Kizata Naa Kowah Quarshie. The prosecution was further ordered by the court to submit its disclosures so that the case management conference could start.
Lord Essandoh, one of the defense attorneys, asked the court for bail on behalf of the accused, claiming that they were workers with a fixed address and willing family members who could serve as sureties. The accused would not interfere with the police’s investigations, according to Mr. Essandoh. The prosecution, which was headed by Chief Inspector Benson Benneh, did not object to the issuance of bail but urged the court to take the building’s value into consideration while making its decision.
The prosecution’s evidence is that Frank Okraku Mantey, the complainant, works as a hotel manager and lives in Cantonments, Accra. It claimed that on January 25, 2023, at around 05:30, the accused conspired to break into the home of the late Okraku Mantey and damage the Cantonments property valued $2.2 million. According to the prosecution, the complainant told the Police with knowledge on the building’s ongoing damage.
According to the report, Magbah was working the excavator when the police arrived on the site, and when he was questioned, he identified Harrison as the person who had hired him. Lamin and Magbah also said they were hired by a Mr. Ayitey, who hired them to tear down the building, according to the prosecution, but they failed to direct the police to the aforementioned Mr. Ayitey.
