THE TWO rival chiefs at Ablekuma, a suburb of Accra, and six others yesterday appeared at Cocoa Affairs court amidst tight security to face trial for allegedly engaging in rioting.
They were however sent back to custody when it became known that the Circuit Court judge, Francis Obiri who was to hear the matter, had gone to a seminar.
The accused persons are Nii Kweku Fosu III, Nii Larbi Mensah IV, Nii Adjen Kofi, Asafoatse Abeka Abbey, secretary to Nii Larbi, Mustapha Adjen Tetteh, Nii Kortey Nartey, Ebenezer Aryeh and Fatao Mohammed.
They would be appearing before the court today to answer two charges of conspiracy to commit crime, to wit rioting with offensive weapon and rioting with offensive weapon.
The accused persons, believed to be from the two chieftaincy factions, over the weekend reportedly engaged in rioting, leading to the death of three persons during a shoot-out.
The violence broke out last Saturday between the two factions due to allegiance to two disputed chiefs of the area during the popular Homowo ritual of sprinkling of Kpokpoi, the traditional Ga food for the festival.
The clash occurred when a faction belonging to Nii Kwaku Fosu, one of the chiefs, after going round to sprinkle its Kpokpoi, allegedly opened fire on the second chief, Nii Larbi Mensah’s entourage as it also went round sprinkling its Kpokpoi.
Nii Larbi’s faction also returned fire, leading to the three casualties and three others sustaining injuries.
The bloody clash from the protracted chieftaincy dispute has led to a massive police presence in the area.
Source: Mary Anane/Daily Guide
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