The Accra Circuit Court has set November 11, 2022, to deliver judgement on the case of Lance Corporal Kwame AduAsabre, an interdicted policeman, accused of assisting a British convict to escape jail-term.
The presiding Judge Mrs Patricia Amponsah yesterday instructed parties involved in the case to come back on November 11 for judgement.
L/C Asabre has been in court since 2019 after he was allegedly found culpable in the escape of British convict, Harold Davies Johnson, who he was transporting to Nsawam Prisons, to serve a three-year sentence for fraud.
L/C Asabre, was charged with three counts of forgery of official documents, abetment of crime, namely prisoner escape and corruption by a public officer, but he denied all the charges.
During the trial, L/C Adu Asabre, under cross-examination by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Sylvester Asare, conceded that his negligence led to the escape of the convict, but denied helping him escape.
The convict said he might have dosed-off when transporting the convict in a taxi to Nsawam Prisons, but denied intentionally helping him escape.
The accused, who was stationed at the CID Headquarters, in Accra, also admitted under cross-examination that he prepared the police removal of prisoner book that indicated that he had transported the convict to the prisons, but he refuted signing the document as he was under the supervision of superiors.
DSP Asaretold accused that “convict was handed over to him on September 10, 2019, but he never returned him, only to fill the removal book to deceive authorities.”
According to the facts presented by DSP Asare, Johnson was handed over to accused, the case officer, to take him to Nsawam Prison, but surprisingly, the accused failed to deliver the convict to the prison.
Rather, prosecution said, he took the convict to his house at Sapeiman, a suburb of Accra, and lived with him for some time.
According to DSP Asare, further investigation “uncovered the promise by convict to assist accused travel abroad and in consideration, accused released the convict’s British passport, which was in his custody to convict to travel to the United Kingdom.”
To conceal the act, ASP Asare said accused, forged the police removal of prisoner book to suggest that the convict had been taken and received by the Nsawam Prison authorities.
“Upon arrest of the accused, he admitted the offence, but pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to him in Court,” prosecution said.
BY NANA BENTSI ODURO
