The case of assault on JoyNews crew investigating illegal mining activities at Manso Asumenya in the Ashanti region was called for the second time by the Bekwai Circuit Court.

Six employees of Edelmetallum Resources Limited are currently before the court charged with five counts of assault, conspiracy to commit a crime and stealing. Five others remain 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.

All accused pleaded not guilty to the charges when they first appeared before the court and were admitted to bail.

The next hearing has been adjourned to January 14, 2025, for the prosecution to file witnesses’ statements.

Background

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 inhumane treatment.

The accused persons further unlawfully detained 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 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 a drone pilot Majid Alidu, while the two other crew members had swollen faces and marks of assault on their bodies.

Subsequently, the accused persons seized the complainants’ mobile tablets, Drone and Samsung SD 128GB cards. However, the mobile tablets and the drone were returned to the complainants without the Samsung SD 128GB card of their footage.

The accused persons also stole a black pack bag containing; a Lenovo 12 Pro tablet, a drone bag with five drone batteries, a power bank, a J.B.L Headset, a Ghana Civil Aviation License and other personal effects valued at 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.