The prosecution handling the case of two publicly flogged lovers revealed that a sub-chief was the mastermind behind the prescribed punishment.
The name of the said sub-chief was given in court on Thursday as the Degu Naa, Adam Seidu Pelpuo.
He is said to have given the final instruction for the flogging.
This was narrated by a police prosecutor, Sergeant Martin Degbortse when three suspects arrested on Wednesday made their first appearance at the Wa Circuit Court.
State-owned Graphic Online reported that the three had been charged with causing harm.
The court subsequently granted them bail in the sum of GHc3,000 with five sureties each. The court was of the view that remanding the accused persons was going to worsen the already volatile environment caused after the youth besieged the police station.
The trial judge advised the accused persons to cooperate with the police for the arrest of the other accomplices.
Bushran Khidri, a 34-year-old mobile phone repairer, Naa Sidiki Osman, 62, and Duoho Naa Issahaque Mahama, 70, are to re-appear on 13 June 2022.
Naa Osman and Naa Mahama are also sub-chiefs of the Wala Traditional Council. They are said to have sanctioned the public flogging of the two at the forecourt of the Wa Naa’s Palace last Tuesday, but they, in turn, have told the police that it was the Degu Naa, Adam Seidu Pelpuo, who gave the final go-ahead.
The pleas of the accused persons are yet to be taken.
The prosecutor told the court that all the three suspects reside in Wa and play various roles at the Wala Traditional Council.
Facts
On 1 June 2022, Khidri and others now at large are said to have been incensed by a sex video that was circulated on social media and caused the arrest of the two persons in the video and sent them to the Wa Naa’s Palace for arbitration.
They then accused the two lovers of posting a sexual video of themselves on social media.
Per the facts, the second and third accused persons Naa Osman and Naa Mahama respectively, and other sub-chiefs who are now at large, ordered that the two partners be tied to the pole at the forecourt and flogged.
Three young men who are also yet to be arrested complied with the orders of the two-sub chiefs and flogged the victims to serve as a deterrent to others.
The prosecution said it was in the process of the inhuman treatment of the two victims that the video went viral on social media and attracted the attention of the police.
After the three were arrested, they mentioned Degu Naa Adam Seidu Pelpuo as the one who gave the final instruction for the flogging.