Police officer charged with robbery

An Accra circuit court has remanded a police officer, Lance Corporal Benjamin Terkutey, in prison custody for conspiracy to commit crime and robbery.

The accused, who pleaded not guilty, is to re-appear on September 2.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Patrick Morkeh told the court, presided over by Mr Francis Obiri, that the complainant is a Chinese national working with the Chinese Embassy, while the accused is a police officer stationed at Kaketoo in Ashaiman.

He said on August 4, the complainant was driving a Nissan Pick-up from the Spintex Road with two other Chinese nationals on board towards the Chinese Embassy at the Airport residential area.

He said on reaching the Tetteh Quarshie interchange, two men, including the accused, who were wearing an apparel similar to a police uniform and armed with an AK 47 assault rifle, robbed them of GH¢500, an I-pad and two mobile phones.

The prosecution said the accused and his accomplices also hijacked the complainant’s Nissan Pick-up.

DSP Morkeh said a report was made to the police and whiles a unit from the Osu District Command was on night patrol, they spotted the Nissan Pick-up parked opposite the Osu Post Office.

He said an inspection conducted on the vehicle revealed that a Nokia mobile phone was left in the vehicle by the robbers.

He said intelligence gathered, thereafter, indicated that it was the accused and a civilian accomplice, Patrick Kobby, now at large, who robbed the Chinese nationals.

The police source said on August 7, the suspect, Patrick, invited the accused and his spouse to a meeting and told them that the police were looking for him, because of the robbery and if he (Patrick) was arrested, the accused should take care of his wife and children.

The prosecution said the accused was later arrested and, when confronted with the overwhelming evidence available to the police, he broke down and confessed.

“He explained that he had earlier performed duty at the Axle Loading Centre on the Accra-Tema Motorway and when he closed from duty, he failed to return the weapon but rather used it to commit the crime,” DSP Morkeh said.

He said the accused also identified the Nokia mobile phone that was found in the complainant’s vehicle as belonging to his accomplice (Patrick).

Source: GNA