BAWKU ARSON SUSPECTS FOR COURT FEBRUARY 27 (D/G Saturday February 14,2009 PAGE 23)

THE four persons who are alleged to have conspired and killed a pregnant woman in Bawku on January 23, 2009, will reappear before the Bolgatanga Circuit Court on February 27, 2009.
This decision was reached after the presiding judge, Mr William Boampong, turned down a plea for bail put in by their counsel, Mr Douglas Seidu, at the court’s sitting on Wednesday, February 11, 2009.
The four, Mustapha Sani, 33; Rahaman Yayaha, 38, both businessmen; Yakubu Abubakari, 22, and Safianu Issifu, 39, have been slapped with a provisional charge of conspiracy to commit crime, causing unlawful damage and murder.
When the case was called, the four whose plea was not taken during the court’s first sitting two weeks ago, were absent. However, the prosecution indicated that they were in lawful custody.
This brought the counsel, Mr Seidu for the accused persons, to his feet. Quoting several authorities, he prayed the court to grant his clients bail insisting that there was nothing like a provisional charge of murder.
However, the prosecutor, Detective Inspector John Agyuah, argued that based on the prevailing tension in Bawku, it would be prudent to remand the accused persons in lawful custody while the police investigated the case.
He contended that granting the accused persons bail could jeopardise the security situation in Bawku and, therefore, pleaded with the court to remand the accused persons in prison custody.
The facts of the case, as presented by Detective Inspector Agyuah, were that all the four suspects lived and worked in Bawku where the complainant, a businessman, also lives.
He said at about 10 p.m. on January 23, 2009 the complainant was sitting in his sitting room with his wife, Fatima Majeed, when they heard the sound of motorbikes approaching their house.
According to the prosecution, out of fear and suspicion, the complainant and his wife sneaked onto a veranda in the house and took cover. From their hideout, the complainant saw six men, two armed with rifles and four unarmed, enter their compound.
He said the accused moved straight to the front of one of the rooms belonging to the complainant’s younger brother, sprinkled petrol there and set the place ablaze.
Inspector Agyuah told the court that the suspects later proceeded to set the complainant’s room also on fire through the window.
He said the complainant and his wife, now deceased, raised an alarm after the departure of the suspects, drawing many people, including Fire Service officers to the scene and they helped to put out the fire.
Inspector Agyuah said the complainant’s wife, who was four months pregnant, was trapped in the room and was burnt to death, adding that the value of property damaged was yet to be ascertained.
He told the court that the complainant, who was able to identify four out of the six suspects, reported the matter to the police, adding that investigations led to the arrest of the accused persons.