Seven Islamic Senior High School(SHS) students have been remanded over alleged involvement in vandalism at Asanteman Senior High School in Kumasi.
This comes after the students attacked the Asanteman SHS on Tuesday, December 13, 2022.
According to the prosecution, the incident led to the destruction of properties of the school.
The students have been charged with conspiracy to commit crime, rioting with weapons and causing unlawful damage.
Appearing before the Asokore Mampong District Court, the Head of Legal and Prosecution at the Ghana Police Service in the Ashanti Region, ACP Kofi Blagogee, prayed the court to remand the seven accused to afford the police enough time to investigate the case.
The court, thus, remanded them into custody.
The lawyer for the accused also prayed the court to grant his clients bail as he stressed they were innocent.
He argued that remanding the students would traumatise them.
He further assured the court that they would not interfere with investigations if granted bail.
But the prosecution argued that granting them bail would negatively affect the police investigation.
ACP Blagogee insisted that remanding the students would serve as a deterrent to others who plan on repeating the act, as violent riots in SHSs were on the rise.
Some relatives of the accused present at the court were seen shedding tears after the court’s decision.
Abdul Razak Abubakari, a father to one of the accused, insisted his son and his colleagues had been wrongly accused and demanded justice be served in the matter.
“I always tell my son that I don’t want him to involve himself in any misconduct. So why? Why all this? Now they are going to remand them till next week. Even today, they are supposed to write an exam but can’t.”
“I want justice to be done because the boys are innocent,” he stated in an interview with Citi News, monitored by The Ghana Report.
The case has been adjourned to Wednesday, December 21, 2022.