The Bekwai Circuit Court in the Ashanti Region has dismissed a submission of ‘no case’ filed by the defense counsel for four employees of Edelmetallum Resources Limited, standing trial for the assault of a JoyNews crew investigating illegal mining activities at Manso Asumenya.

The victims included environmental journalist Erastus Asare Donkor and his colleagues, Majid Alidu, Edward Arkoh, and Nicholas Suantah, who were abducted, assaulted at an undisclosed location, and later abandoned by the accused persons in October 2024.

Nine months into the trial, defense counsel, Elvis Ofori Asante, asked the court to dismiss the case on grounds of insufficient evidence.

However, presiding judge, Justice Isaac Appiatu, rejected the submission, ruling that four accused persons must open their defense.

Two other accused were acquitted and discharged due to lack of evidence linking them to the attack.

The prosecution, led by ASP Lloyd Baidoo, is expected to proceed with the case when the court reconvenes on September 19, 2025.

The matter before court

On October 20, 2024, at about 11:30 am, the complainants visited the Manso Asumenya area to investigate forest, farmland destruction and water pollution caused by illegal miners of Edelmetallum Resources Limited.

While the four crew members were undertaking their journalistic investigation at the site, the accused assaulted and subjected them to torture and inhuman treatment.

The accused persons further unlawfully imprisoned the complainants in their own vehicle by placing two heavily built men in their vehicle before accosting them in a remote forest near Asanko Gold mines at Manso Nkran.

Upon the reluctance of complainants refusal to delete their video coverage of the effects of mining activities of the said company, the accused persons in turns begun to punch and slap the complainants resulting to the swollen right eyes of the team leader, Erastus Asare Donkor and drone pilot Majid Alidu, while the two other crew members sustained swollen faces and marks of assault on their bodies.

Subsequently, the accused persons seized the complainants’ mobile tablets, Drone and Samsung SD 128GB cards valued at about GHIC500.00. However, the mobile tablets and the drone were returned to complainants without the Samsung SD 128GB card of their footages.

The accused persons also stole a black pack bag containing; a Lenovo 12 Pro tablet, drone bag with five drone batteries, power bank, J.B.L Headset, Ghana Civil Aviation License and other personal effect valued about Gh35,000 from complainants vehicle before abandoning them in the forest.

The complainants later reported the matter to Police at Manso Adubia, who subsequently made the arrests.

The police prosecution charged six accused persons with five counts of assault, conspiracy to commit a crime and stealing. They include Felix Amankwah, Akwasi Frimpong, Frederick Afful, Josuah Ofori, Mumumi Musah and, Daniel Appiah, all employees of Edelmetallum Resources Limited and aged between 23 and 52 years. Five other accused persons remained at large.

When they first appeared in court, all accused pleaded not guilty to the charges and their counsel pleaded with the court to admit them to bail, arguing they have been of good behavior after police inquiry bail.

The court granted the plea for bail with two sureties of GHs100,000 and for all accused persons.