Six accused persons in the assault of a JoyNews crew investigating illegal mining activities at Manso Asumenya have appeared before the Bekwai Circuit Court in the Ashanti region.

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 are at large.

They are accused of forcibly abducting Erastus Asare Donkor, Majid Alidu, Edward Arkoh and Nicholas Suantah, taking them to an undisclosed location, subjecting them to brutal beatings, and later abandoning them.

The prosecution, led by ASP Llyod Baidoo, charged all accused persons with five counts of assault, conspiracy to commit a crime and stealing.

All accused pleaded not guilty to the charges. Their counsel, Elvis Ofori Asante pleaded with the court to admit the accused persons to bail, arguing they have been of good behavior after police inquiry bail.

The prosecutor did not object to the plea for bail. The Presiding Judge, Justice Isaac Appiatu, granted the plea for bail with two sureties of GHs100,000 and for all accused persons to present themselves to the Manso Adubia police every Monday before the next court hearing.

The case was adjourned to Friday, December 13, 2024.

The matter before court

On October 20, 2024, at about 11:30 am, the complainants visited the Manso Asumenya area to investigate forest, and 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 to 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 began to punch and slap the complainants resulting in 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 GHs500.00. However, the mobile tablets and the drone were returned to the 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 effects 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.