Four remand prisoners who escaped from a Police van yesterday at Dobro near Pokuase were on Thursday sentenced to three years imprisonment each by an Accra Circuit Court.
They are Dominic Kofi Anim, Kobina Dzemado Azumah aka Thunder, Stephen Quianoo aka Paa Kwesi, aka The Boy, and Stanley Gokah aka Gameli. Anim, Azumah, Quainoo, and Gokah were jointly charged with conspiracy and escaping from lawful custody. Gokah, said to be the architect of the plan, was additionally charged with causing unlawful damage.
They all pleaded guilty.
Explaining the incident in court, Anim said when he was arrested by the police he was subjected to severe beating so when he was being escorted to Nsawam Prisons, he thought he was going to go through the same ordeal. Quainoo denied that he conspired with his colleagues but said it was because the door of the van was opened so he decided to follow his colleagues.
They all pleaded with the court to have mercy on them. Their accomplices, Francis Kweku Ayitey aka Obonkuruwa and Samuel Adjetey are at large. Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Aidan Dery told the court that the convicts who were involved in robbery and other related offences, had been remanded into prison custody to reappear on a later date.
On October 12, at about 0800 hours, when the convicts were being conveyed by a Ghana Police Service van known as �Black Maria� under the escort of a three-member police team to Nsawam they conspired and escaped. ASP Dery said Anim broke the iron bar of a seat and used same to destroy the locks on the vehicle�s door.
When the vehicle got stuck in traffic between Pokuase and Dobro, the convicts and their two accomplices now at large, escaped. The prosecutor said residents of Pokuase and Dobro assisted the Policemen to chase and apprehend the convicts but two of their accomplices managed to escape.
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