Three employees of the beleaguered Midland Savings and Loans in Accra have been dragged before an Accra Circuit Court for aiding a police officer to brutally assault a woman carrying a baby in the banking hall of the financial institution last month.
The employees have been accused of instigating the police officer to attack the poor woman while they watched on without assisting her.
The three, Joycelyn Kukuaa Fakah, Operations Manager, who acted as manager on that day, Shelly Portia Anamang, in-charge of Customer Service and Prince Ayensu, are facing charges of abetment to assault to which they all pleaded not guilty.
Joycelyn Kukuaa Fakah, according to the prosecution, asked the police officer to drive the woman out of the banking hall which led to the incident.
Shelly Portia Anamang, on the other hand, according to the police, did nothing to help her and videoed the unfortunate incident.
Prince Ayensu is also accused of helping Corporal Amanor Godzi to drag the poor woman out of the banking hall during the attack.
Earlier, the prosecution, led by DSP George Amega, prayed the court to discharge the police officer, Lance Corporal Godzi Frederick Amanor, popularly called ‘Skalla’ of the previous charges so that they would be consolidated with that of his abettors, and the court agreed.
The cop, who is facing a charge of assault, pleaded not guilty after the charge was read to him.
Bail
Meanwhile, the court, presided over by Harriet Akweley Quaye, has granted the four accused persons bail in the sum of GH₵60,000 each, with two sureties each who must be in gainful employment earning not less than GH₵500.
This was after lawyers for the four prayed the court to consider the fact that the suspects are presumed innocent until proven otherwise.
Private legal practitioner, Kweku Adjei Lartey, who represented the cop, told the court that his client had expressed remorse over the matter, but the presiding judge reminded him that remorse does not absolve him of the offence.
Yaw Oppong, who represented Joycelyn Kukuaa Fakah, told the court that the prosecution did not implicate her except that it said the assaulted woman approached her, which is not a crime.
Lawyers for the other accused also prayed the court to grant them bail, saying they would avail themselves for the trial.
The trial judge, after listening to the lawyers, granted the accused bail and adjourned the matter to August 30, 2018.
Facts
The prosecution, led by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Amega, told the court that the complainant is a trader and resident of Shiashi in Accra and a customer of Midland Savings and Loans Ltd.
He said on July 13, 2018, the complainant went to the microfinance company and joined the queue to withdraw some money.
The prosecutor told the court that after hours in the queue, the bank officials came to inform customers that they were facing network challenges so they should go and come the next Monday.
“On Monday 16th July, 2018, the complainant went to the bank again and same story was told after waiting for several hours. That same story continued each day she went to the bank. On 19th July 2018, she went there at about 7:30am and waited till the bank opened at 9:00am. After serving some people, the officials came with the same excuse and said those who have something to do could go and come at 12:00 noon. The complainant opted to stay in anticipation of getting some money,” DSP Amega told the court.
He said at 2:00 pm, officials of the microfinance company attended to some more customers and asked the rest to go home and come the next day.
The prosecutor told the court that Patience Osafo, who was disappointed, approached the staff to plead with them to give her GH₵105 out of her money so that she can pay her debtors and use the rest to feed her grandchild.
“The bank officials, Kukuaa and Shelly instead called the accused Lance Corporal Godzi Frederick Amanor to drive her out of the banking hall. The policeman, in an attempt to move the complainant out from the banking hall, assaulted her and subsequently dragged her out of the banking hall,” DSP Amega told the court.
He said Shelly videoed the incident instead of helping the woman while Prince Ayensu also helped the cop to drag the woman out of the building.
He said on July 20, 2018, following the directives of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) in respect of the video on social media, the accused person was arrested.
Lance Corporal Godzi Frederick Amanor, upon interrogation, admitted the offence in his caution statement, DSP Amegah added.
By Gibril Abdul Razak
