A Kumasi Circuit Court has granted bail to three final-year students of Opoku Ware Senior High School in the Ashanti Region over their alleged involvement in a robbery incident.
This was after they appeared before the Court on Tuesday, 16 August 2022.
They were charged with conspiracy to commit robbery, robbery, and unlawful damage.
The presiding judge, his Honor Abdul Razak Musah, granted them ¢80,000 bail with 5 sureties each.
The case has been adjourned to September 1.
The three students – Akwasi Adu Donkor, Raphael Owusu Appiah and Kwadwo Osei Asubonteng – were arrested and held at the Kumasi Central Police station after a failed attempt to snatch a taxi from its driver at gunpoint last Friday night.
According to the police, the driver picked up the suspects from the Santasi suburb. The passengers sought his services under the pretext of travelling to the Lancaster Kumasi City, formerly Golden Tulip Hotel, in the Nhyiaeso suburb.
But upon reaching the Rattray Park area, the teenagers impressed on the driver to hand over the ignition keys to them or risk being stabbed.
A struggle for the keys ensued between the suspects and the driver. Eventually, the vehicle hit a wall along the Ridge Police Station and the Royal Golf Park Junction.
This attracted onlookers from a nearby club who came to the aid of the taxi driver.
One of the students fled the scene, while two of them were arrested and handed over to the police.
Investigations by the Kumasi Central Police command led to the arrest of the third suspect from his hideout.
Subsequently, school authorities were informed by the police Friday dawn, and it was confirmed that the suspects were indeed students of Opoku Ware School.
The identity of the students, according to the report, was confirmed by a delegation sent by the headmaster of the school to the Kumasi Central Police station on the same day of their arrest.
It followed a call by the police to the School Chaplain and Counselor, Reverend Fr. Addo Fordwuor.
A statement signed by the Secretary to the School’s Disciplinary Committee, Bismark Agyemang Duah, said, “A delegation, comprising the Assistant headmaster (Administration), Assistant headmaster (Domestic), the school chaplain and counsellor and the senior housemaster and his deputy were sent to the police station to identify whether or not the boys were students of OWASS. When the boys were brought for identification, it came out that they were indeed students of OWASS.”
It added that all three used to be boarding students; however, at the time the incident occurred, they had been withdrawn from boarding on disciplinary grounds.
“It is on record that the three suspects had been withdrawn from the boarding house. Akwasi Adu Donkor and Asubonteng Osei Kwadwo were withdrawn from the boarding house on the same day for the following offences: Breaking bounds at night, wearing unprescribed attire in the school and fighting in the school,” the statement added.
The two are said to be habitual absentees, assault-fellow students, and steal on countless occasions.
“Owusu Appiah Raphael was also withdrawn from the boarding house for stealing on countless occasions from his colleagues at the dormitory. After this incident, he and other four students appeared before the D.C. for wrongful entry into someone’s house at TUC. He has also been hiding in the dormitory despite his withdrawal from the boarding house.”
According to the school authorities, every effort to reform these students has proven futile.
“We would like to state emphatically that the boys are our students, but at the time the incident occurred, they had closed from school and were supposed to be in the custody of their parents.”
