Drama unfolded at an Accra Circuit Court yesterday when a police officer, Lance Corporal Joseph Manu, who was testifying in a case in which his AK 47 rifle was stolen told the court “I will speak Twi” to enable him put his case across better.
His decision to testify in Twi threw a heavily packed courtroom into laughter. At this point, the Lance Corporal could not explain his point as was expected by the Prosecutor, Police Chief Superintendent Duuti Tuaruka.
As the first witness in the case in which one Anthony Agbozo, a carpenter, stands accused of stealing his AK 47 rifle with 10 rounds of ammunition belonging to the Ghana Police Service, the Lance Corporal said the accused person had muzzled the butt and the tip of the rifle.
In his evidence to the court, he said on the day the incident happened, he informed a colleague police officer but they could not trace the gun. He subsequently made a report at the Kotoku Police Station.
He also told the court that he was later called to the Amasaman Police Station where he met the accused person with his gun.
Mr. Agbozo, who is charged with three counts of possessing firearm without lawful authority, stealing, and causing unlawful damage, pleaded not guilty to all the counts.
The court, presided over by Mr Aboagye Tandoh, remanded him into lawful custody to re-appear on February 10, 2016 for the prosecution to call up his next witness.
Brief facts
Facts of the case as presented to the court by the prosecutor, Police Chief Superintendent Duuti Tuaruka, are that on June 25, 2015 at about 1800 hours, Lance Corporal Joseph Manu, a policeman at Amasaman came to the charge office and booked for an AK 47 rifle number 5910 and 10 rounds of ammunition for guard duty at the Pobiman Toll Booth.
According to C/Supt. Tuaruka at about 2200 hours on the same day, L/Cpl Manu returned with the rifle to his rented quarters at Pokuase where he resides to find out whether his wife who traveled the previous day had returned.
The prosecution said, in the house, the policeman did not see his wife, and so he put the rifle in his room and slept on his bed.
According to the prosecution, while asleep, Agbozo sneaked into L/Cpl Manu’s room and stole the rifle loaded with 10 rounds of ammunition.
He also told the court that on November 30, this year, at about 0900 hours, a witness saw the accused person hiding the rifle under a kiosk and he raised an alarm.
The accused person was arrested and handed over to the police at Pokuase together with the loaded rifle. The prosecution said it was realised that the accused person had muzzled the butt of the gun.
An inventory of the rifles revealed that out of the 10 rounds of ammunition stolen with the gun, two were missing, and six of the remaining eight rounds were those stolen from L/Cpl Manu.
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