Fifty-one persons who allegedly attacked employees of Golden Star Wassa Limited (GSWL) and destroyed several properties belonging to the company have appeared before District Court B in Tarkwa.
The pleas of the accused persons who were arrested in batches have not been taken.
The prosecutor, Superintendent Juliana Essel-Dadzie, appealed to the court presided over by Justice Isaac Osei Asare to remand the accused persons for two weeks to enable them to complete their investigations that were underway.
She said considering the number of persons arrested so far, releasing anyone on bail would interfere with their investigation, adding that “we need more time to probe further into the case. This will help us deal solely with only those involved in the crime and free the innocent persons”.
The accused persons would be charged with conspiracy to commit crime and other offences, Superintendent Essel-Dadzie informed the court.
However, counsels for eight of the accused persons, Bright Baiden and Jacob Acquah-Sampson, prayed to the court to grant their clients bail.
“Our clients have been in police custody for a while and since they have intelligent and competent officers, they should have completed their investigation. Our clients provide the income that their respective families to live and life is becoming unbearable for them,” they pleaded to the court.
After hearing both parties, Justice Isaac Osei Asare said he would rule on the bail application on Friday, April 14, 2023.
The court also remanded all the accused persons into prison custody to re-appear on the same date.
Meanwhile, the Group Corporate Affairs Manager of GSWL, Mr Gerard Boakye who was present in court with some employees after the proceedings, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that, “we have not gotten into the case yet mainly because the police requested for more time to engage the suspects because the first set of suspects they arrested paved the way to apprehend more, so I think all is in line with making sure that people are not wrongful judged”.
“We have no problem with the proceedings because we are a law-abiding company, we also believe in human rights of people, we work and fight for that, so we are not disturbed that the law will take its course,” he added.
On Thursday, March 16, 2023, some illegal miners from Subriso in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality of the Western Region attacked employees of GSWL over illegal mining activities at one of the company’s concessions.
The illegal miners injured some employees, smashed the windscreens of 22 dumper trucks, set ablaze 12 vehicles which included excavators, ambulances, land cruisers, pick-ups and part of the administrative block of the company.
Source: Ghana News
