Police didn’t find anything incriminating against Afoko

Detective Chief Inspector Augustine Nkrumah from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) headquarters on Monday told an Accra High Court that the police did not find anything incriminating in Gregory Afoko’s room.

He said when the police went to arrest Afoko, they searched his room, but did not find anything incriminating against Afoko.

He said “before we, the team from Accra got to Bolgatanga, the police team said they had done the search and did not find anything incriminating”.

Afoko is accused of the murder of the late Adams Mahama who was the former Upper East Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party.

Mr Nkrumah, from the Homicide Unit of the CID, Ghana Police Service, who is the 14th prosecution witness, said when the police got to Afoko’s room they found a tracksuit and they took it, leaving the upper part of it which was also available.

Answering questions from Mr Osafo Boabeng, the Defense Counsel, the witness said there were burns on it that aroused their interest, adding that there were also a splash of a liquid substance in the tracksuit that also heightened our suspicion.

He said when they picked it, they informed one John Afoko, of the findings in the tracksuit before taking it away.

The witness said the photographs of Mr Adams while receiving medical attention at the intensive care unit, showed his eyes closed with tubes in his nostrils, depicting the condition of Mr Adams, while on the hospital bed.

He said he could not tell whether the photographs of the interior of the vehicle, were taken when there was sunlight, and did not notice from the picture that the hand break of the vehicle had been pulled up.

“From what I see from the picture, it suggests something like that, but because I do not know how the hand break of the vehicle looks like, I cannot conclude that it was pulled up,” he said.

When asked whether if the hand break of the vehicle was pulled up, it indicated that the vehicle had stopped, he answered that a car can be stopped and the break pulled up while still sitting in it, and that it was not true that Mr Adams had stopped the vehicle and pulled up the hand break at the time that they took the picture.

The Defense Counsel suggested to him that, the substance that was allegedly poured in the vehicle was done at the time that Mr Adams was not in the vehicle, but he disputed that fact.

Mr Nkrumah said when he visited the crime scene; the place had not been cordoned off by the police, the vehicle was parked at Mr Adams house, with some family members around, and there was no way anyone from outside would be allowed to get close to it.

When asked whether he was aware it was one Abukari who entered the vehicle and switched off the engine, he answered in the affirmative, but explained further that, he did not interrogate Abukari on the issue because he believed the Bolgatanga Police had done that.

He said he was informed by Hajia Adams and the Bolgatanga Police that Abukari was Mr Adams driver.

He told the court that when he got there, the scene was disturbed but he examined it and there were lots of foot prints, adding that he did not take foot prints of Afoko.

In relation to the gallon and plastic cup found at the crime scene, the witness said according to the Bolgatanga Police the gallon was given to them by Hajia Adams, which she claimed to have picked from the scene, while the Bolgatanga Police picked the plastic cup at the scene themselves.

He said the Bolgatanga Police said they found the plastic cup which did not contain anything close to the vehicle of Mr Adams.

Mr Nkrumah said although the police has a well-equipped forensic lab, they did not subject the gallon and the plastic cup to any figure print examination during his investigation because of the way it had been handled and also because a lot of people had access to it so there was no way, proper prints could be extracted.

He said he took fingerprints of Afoko but they were not in relation to the two exhibits.

He said the exhibits to his investigations were in the custody of the Regional Crime Office, and they were showed to him before it was packaged and given to him by the Bolgatanga Police.

“They were bundled together in one box and handed over to me. The clothing were put in a particular box separated from the others and handed over to me,” he said.

Mr Nkrumah said Hajia Adams told him she sustained burns in the course of pulling Mr Adams from the vehicle that night, arguing that from the pictures taken by his team, the wounds were fresh.

“She said she suffered burns on her breast, chest and hand. The upper part of her breast,” he said.

The Defense Counsel, however, suggested to him that the pictures did not show any part of the breast of Hajia Adams, and also did not show her face.

The witness answered that the picture did not show Hajia Adams’s face because she was finding it difficult, allowing them to take the picture because she was referring to her religion and the fact that she was a married woman, and does not want her face to be shown, displaying her body to the general public, so they understood her concerns and took the picture without her face.

When asked whether he requested for the clothing of PW1 at the time she pulled out Mr Adams from the vehicle, he said no.

He told the court he did not interrogate the Bolgatanga Regional Crime Officer, in the course of his investigation, but he gave us brief information about what had taken place.

The Defense Counsel asked the witness whether he was aware that Afoko gave the keys to his room to the Regional Crime Officer when he was arrested, but he answered in the negative.

He also asked whether the witness was aware that the police first went to the crime scene after they had gone to the regional hospital, on the early hours of May 21, 2015, he answered in the affirmative.

He said the Bolgatanga Police did not inform him that when they went to the scene, they met other people there as well as in Mr Adams house.

The case was then adjourned to October 23, for continuation of cross examination by the Defence Counsel.

The prosecution has so far called 14 witnesses including Hajia Adams, Madam Issaka, Quinn, Taufic, Dominic, Awafo, Thomas, Benjamin, James, Peter, Sampson and Charles, Dr Lawrence. They intend to call one more witnesses.

Afoko, a farmer, is alleged to have killed Mr Mahama on May 20, 2015, and he is being held on the charges of conspiracy to commit crime to wit murder and murder.

He has pleaded not guilty before the Court, which is also composed of a seven-member jury.

It was alleged that Afoko carried out the act with Alandgi Asabke, who is on the run.

Source: GNA