The accused persons were charged with possession of firearms, discharging firearms in public without authority, and murder of Ibrahim Sawadogo, Abdulai Abaidu, Awudu Seidu, Abdul Karim Alhassan and Issah Osman.

The Bolgatanga Circuit Court presided over by Alexander Graham, which remanded them, did not take their plea.

The court said the remand was to enable the prosecution to carry out further investigations.

The case was adjourned to May 27, 2022, for hearing to continue.

Facts

The Prosecutor, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Joseph Kunsong, told the court that all the accused persons were residents of Weinamzua and Petelemi, both suburbs of Bawku.

He said since September last year, there had been some conflicts and disturbances in the Bawku municipality, adding that “these disturbances resulted in sporadic firing of guns and killings of individuals”.

ASP Kunsong stated that the disturbances had resulted in the deployment of police and military personnel in the municipality, as well as the imposition of curfew to contain the situation.

He said on May 9, 2022, there was sporadic firing of gunshots in some parts of the municipality resulting in the killing of three persons.

“At about 11:45 p.m., same day, the Bawku Divisional Police Command led a team of police and military officers to Petelemi and the accused persons and others at large were sighted engaging in the discharge of firearms.

“However, on seeing the team approaching, the accused persons ran into hiding and they were later arrested during a search from one room,” the prosecutor said.

He said in the course of the search, the accused persons were arrested from their hideout in a room in a house identified as Lukeman’s house.

Arms, ammunition recovered

ASP Kunsong said during further search, one locally manufactured pistol loaded with one BB cartridge was recovered from the suspects although the landlord, Lukeman Asimi, was not available at the time the accused persons were apprehended.

He said investigations disclosed that all the accused persons were not tenants of the house in which they were arrested and they could not explain the reason for their presence in the area, particularly as there was curfew in force during the period of their arrest.

They were sent to the Bawku Police Station for investigations and later transferred to the regional unit of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to continue the investigations.

Subsequently, the accused persons were charged and put before court.