I admit negligence but did not aid escape – policeman tells court

Lance Corporal Kwame Adu Asabre, an interdicted policeman, before court over prisoner escape charge, on Monday admitted his negligence which led to the escape of a convicted prisoner but denied aiding his escape.

He told an Accra Circuit court that he might have dosed-off when sending the convict in a taxi but did not intentionally help him to escape.

This was during a cross-examination by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Sylvester Asare.

Mr Asabre is facing the court for the escape of Harold Davies Johnson who was sentenced to three years imprisonment for fraud.

The accused person, who was stationed at the CID Headquarters, Accra was transporting the convict to the Nsawam Prisons when the escape occurred.

He also admitted in the cross-examination that he prepared the Police Removal of Prisoner Book, indicating that he sent the convict to the Prisons but denied signing the document as he said he was under the supervision of his superiors.

DSP Asare pointed it to the accused that the convict was handed over to him (accused) on September 10, 2019, but he never returned him, only to fill the removal book to deceive authorities.

Prosecution said when Johnson was convicted, the accused shuffled him between police cells and his house before he left the shores of Ghana, of which the accused denied.

DSP Asare said per the records, Johnson was in police custody from May 8 to September 30, 2019, and it was after that period that Johnson escaped from the hired taxi because there was no court session to attend.

“I put it to you that you compromised your position as an investigator to release convict to leave the shores of Ghana,” the prosecutor stated but the accused said that was never true.

The accused person said, “I admit negligence but did not aid his escape.”

Prosecution also told the accused person that it was him (accused) who handed over his(convict) passport to enable convict escape, however, accused said he was not the one as he was not the one who arrested convict and did not have his things, including his passport.

Prosecution had earlier told the Court presided over by Mrs Patricia Amponsah that in the year 2019, a case of Defrauding by false Pretenses, involving one Harold Davies Johnson, alias Emmanuel Snowden, a British, reported by Dr Shadrack Asare was referred to the accused person for investigation.

After investigation, the accused person was instructed to arraign Johnson for the offence of Defrauding by false pretenses.

The Court heard that Johnson was subsequently arraigned in Accra Circuit Court “2” presided over by Madam Naa Adjetey Quaison where Johnson pleaded guilty Simplicita to the charge and was convicted on his own plea of guilty to three years imprisonment.

Prosecution said Convict Johnson was handed over to the accused person, the case officer, to send to Nsawam Prison but surprisingly, the accused person failed to send the convict to the prison, rather he sent the convict to his house at Sapeiman, a suburb of Accra, and lived with him for some time.

Further investigation had it that upon the promise by the convict to assist accused person to travel abroad and in consideration, the accused person released the convict’s British Passport which was in his custody to the convict to travel to the United Kingdom.

To conceal the act, accused person, forged the Police Removal of Prisoner book to suggest that the convict had been sent and received by the Nsawam Prison’s authorities.

Upon arrest of the accused person, he admitted the offence but pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to him in Court.

He will make his next appearance on October 28, 2022.

Source: GNA