Four officers of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) stationed at the Nadowli-Kaleo District office and two civilians have been remanded into police custody by the Wa District Court for their alleged involvement in the death of a 38-year-old farmer, Patrick Banoebuuri.

While the immigration officers were charged for murder, the two civilians were charged for abetment of crime.

Their pleas were not taken, and they are to reappear on March 17, 2025.

The four immigration officers are Senior Inspector Philip Adjei Boadi, 36; Assistant Immigration Control Officer (AICOII) Abdul Rawuf Abubakar, 22; AICOII Alex Nkrumah, 33; and AICO II Philip Oppong, 28, who were all charged with murder.

The two civilians are Pogee Antaa Julius, age not indicated, and Logu Seidu, 49, who have been charged with abetment of crime, to wit murder.

The court presided over by Maxwell Maxibriant Titriku, remanded them into police custody and adjourned the case to March 17, 2025 to allow the prosecution more time to complete its investigation. 

The facts as presented to the court by the prosecution were that on March 6, 2025, Mr Banoebuuri, was alleged to have stolen 18 sheep and was arrested by members of the community.

The prosecution said 14 out of the 18 sheep were recovered, and he was thus set free.

However, on March 7, 2025, Pogee Antaa Julius, who is the Unit Community Chairman, led a group of people from Naro to the house of Mr Banoebuuri at Peeri-Kaangu, both communities within the Nadowli-Kaleo District, to apprehend him for failing to produce the remaining four sheep.

He was handed over to the four immigration officers who were on duty at the Naro checkpoint.

“They received him in good health and took him through ‘frog jump’ in the course of which he died,” said the prosecution.

The complainant in the case, Richard Banoebuuri, reported the case to the police for investigation, and the police proceeded to the scene and found the lifeless body lying at the GIS checkpoint at Naro covered with tent fabric and kept behind a zinc bathroom.

The body was conveyed to the Wa Regional Hospital for preservation and autopsy.