Land guard in alleged robbery case

By Helena Selby

A land guard has been remanded in custody by an Accra Circuit Court for allegedly taking part in robbing a Petrol filling station in Accra.

The accused person, George Atakora Fosu, alias Stopper, allegedly invaded the premises of the filling station with three others, who are currently at large, and made away with unspecified amount of money and mobile phones.

Fosu and his accomplices were also alleged to have shot one of the pump attendants and the supervisor of the filling station after their operation, and further hijacked and shot the driver of a taxi cab, with registration number G.W 3931-11, as well as a passenger on board the taxi at the time.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges of conspiracy to commit crime and robbery contrary to section 23 (1) 149 of act 29/60, when he was arraigned before the court presided over by Mrs. Audrey Kokouvie-Tay.

He is, therefore, expected to re-appear before the court on March 19, 2012. The brief facts of the case are that on January 19, 2012, four men armed with pump action gun, attacked the Lily Gold filling station between the hours of 8:00pm and 9:00pm.

According to the prosecutor, Chief Inspector Charles Chester, the four armed men on board a Nissan Amera taxi cab, with the said registration number, attacked the filling station.

He said they attacked one of the pump attendants, the supervisor and the security man, and robbed them of an amount of money and some belongings.

The Prosecutor told the court that in the process of their exercise, the armed men shot and killed Gifty Antwi, who is the pump attendant, and Mohammed, the security man on duty.

“The police investigations later revealed that the same four armed men, before attacking the filling station hijacked the said taxi cab, killed the driver and one passenger on board”, the prosecutor pointed out.

Chief Inspector Chester further noted that an in-depth investigation into the incident led to the arrest of the accused person as one of the armed men, who robbed the filling station.

He noted that an identification parade was held at the Regional Criminal Investigation Department (RCID) in Accra and the accused person was identified by one of the pump attendants as one of the robbers, who attacked and killed two of her colleagues.