Court demands evidence of death of 2 Chinese suspects from prosecutors
The Sefwi Wiawso District Court has ordered the prosecution in the trial of 10 persons accused of illegal mining, to produce documentary evidence of the death of two Chinese nationals in the case.
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This comes after the court presided over by Eric Baah Boateng questioned the absence of four out of the 10 Chinese when the case was called. The accused persons, including two policemen, were arrested by the staff of the Forestry Commission for allegedly mining in the Krokosua Hills Forest Reserve.
They are Wen Shi Yu, 30; Weng YongCheng, 30; Wen FU Lin, 58; and Lee Pin, 60, all Chinese. The Ghanaians are Edward Owusu, 25; Kwesi Frank, 42; Abudu Dramani, 41, and Joe Nabur, 27 while the two police officers involved are Detective Sergeant Yahaya Andrews and Lance Corporal Azantillow.
They have appeared in court on two occasions and are scheduled to reappear on April 15, 2024.
Absence
The order to the prosecutors were given after the Chinese suspects failed to appear before the court when the case was called for the third time on March 15. Only the six Ghanaians, including the two policemen were present.
The magistrate thus questioned the Prosecution on the whereabouts of the four Chinese nationals. In his response, the prosecution, led by Chief Inspector George Asante Noye, said two of them had died and had since been cremated.
Subsequently, the magistrate ordered the Prosecutor to bring the sureties of the four Chinese nationals to Court at the next sitting to produce documentary evidence of the death and subsequent cremation of the two Chinese nationals for the court's next line of action.
Meanwhile, the prosecution has forwarded the docket to the Attorney General's Department in Takoradi for advice.
Background
The suspects were arrested on December 10, 2023, by the Rapid Response Unit of the Forestry Commission for allegedly engaging in illegal mining activities in the Krokosua Hills Forest Reserve in the Juaboso Forest District of the Western North Region.
The exercise, which was conducted by a team from the Rapid Response Unit of the Forestry Commission (FC) drawn from various districts across the country, also demobilised 10 excavators as well as razed down some makeshift wooden structures erected by the illegal miners.
Apart from seizing an unspecified quantity of a substance suspected to be gold, the team also seized three Toyota 4×4 vehicles with registration numbers GN 4165 -12; GT 9334 -12, and GS 4895-Z, an unregistered motorbike and two pump action guns believed to be used to facilitate the activities of the suspects who were subsequently sent to the Sefwi-Wiawso Police Regional Command for further investigations and prosecution.