The Tarkwa District Court One has declined bail for the nine accused persons who allegedly murdered a cab driver, Kwadwo Donkor alias ‘chilling,’ at Akotom within the Prestea Huni-Valley Municipality.  

The court took that decision, to facilitate further investigations into the matter after counsels of the accused persons requested bail on their behalf.  

They are facing charges of conspiracy to commit crime and murder, but their pleas have not been taken yet.  

The accused persons would reappear before the court, presided over by Mr Charles Owusu Nsiah, on April 3, 2025. 

Police Sergeant Enoch Assan Donkor, prosecuting, told the court that the complainant was a businessman residing in Huniso and Donkor, now deceased, was his employee.  

He said the accused persons are Nana Kwabena Agyarko, Evans Azure alias, Ampana, Peter Kwamena Antwi, Felix Atsu Davor, Sampson Agbodojie, Kojo Bonzy, Stephen Owusu, Kofi Ampabeng, and Lucky Mudoo. 

He to the prosecutor, their ages range from 30 to 72 and they are teacher, mason, drivers, and farmers living in Akotom and Camp.  

Sergeant Donkor said on November 8, 2024, at about 0830 hours, the deceased left home with his taxicab for work but did not return.  

The complainant made several attempts to reach him, but it all proved futile, so he reported the matter to the police on November 9, 2024, around 1430 hours.  

Prosecution said while investigations were ongoing, the police had a tip-off that Sheriffa, who is a suspect in the case and currently on the run, sighted the deceased at Akotom near her husband’s car and without any justification, raised the alarm that he was a thief. 

He said Sheriffa’s action attracted the accused persons and some youth in the community, who were currently at large, to the scene.  

The accused persons accosted the deceased and Azure, who was then passing by, joined them and provided a rope, and they tied the deceased against a nearby electric pole.  

Sergeant Donkor said the accused persons and their accomplices subjected the deceased to severe beatings with all kinds of objects which allegedly led to his death.  

It said when they realized Donkor had passed on, they placed the body in a tricycle and dumped him in a nearby bush along the Tarkwa-Bogoso Highway, which was about 1.5 kilometres away from the Akotom community.  

On November 10, 2024, Agyarko, who was picked up to assist police in its investigation, denied the crime but later confessed and mentioned Antwi and others at large as his counterparts. 

He said Agyarko later led the police to the bush and identified the exact place where they hid the body of the deceased, and it was retrieved though the body was in advanced decomposition state.  

The police arrested Azure on November 12, 2024, and he said Antwi and Davor were also involved, and both were nabbed from their hideout for questioning.  

Sergeant Donkor added that police intelligence also revealed that the rest of the accused persons were part of those who committed the crime, hence they were all arrested. 

The prosecutor said after investigations a duplicate docket was prepared and forwarded to the Attorney General’s office at Sekondi for study and advice.