21 Walewale Secondary Technical students remanded
The Tamale Magistrates Court last Tuesday remanded in prison custody and remand homes 21 students of the Walewale Secondary Technical School following rioting by some irate students of the school.
Nine of the students were remanded in prison custody, while 12 of them, who are minors, were sent to remand homes.
The court, presided over by Mr Augustine Essah, charged them on six counts of causing damage to school property, a police Toyota Land Cruiser patrol vehicle with registration number GP 3018 and a private vehicle belonging to a police officer. The remaining three counts are assault on a public officer, conspiracy to crime and stealing.
The accused persons are to reappear on December 4, 2013. Seven other persons were granted bail.
According to the Prosecutor, Chief Inspector Martin Obeng Botwe, last Sunday, police received information from the headmaster of the school that the students were planning to stage a demonstration in the school.
Chief Inspector Botwe stated that the students claimed the headmaster was favouring students who were not from the Walewale area to the neglect of those from the area, hence they wanted him out of the school.
A team of police personnel then went to the school and saw that the students had allegedly put off all the lights in the school as a protest against the school authorities.
The prosecutor stated that the police retreated and went to the school the following day (Monday) to assess the situation on the ground.
When the students saw the police personnel, they hurled stones at them, injuring two police officers in the process.
The students, in their fury, also marched to the police station and vandalised a police patrol vehicle and a private car belonging to one Corporal Atta Kofi.
The prosecutor said, the students had earlier set ablaze the school's headmaster bungalow and computer laboratory and made away with 75 computers and accessories. Some of the staff of the school also had their valuable items stolen.
The prosecutor noted that investigations into the incident was still ongoing.