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An alleged armed robber, Pius Anundoabil Ayoma, who allegedly escaped lawful custody at the Manet Police Station in the Greater Accra Region, has been arrested and remanded into prison custody.
The accused was earlier arraigned before an Accra High Court on attempted murder and robbery charges last week Thursday, and was remanded into prison custody to reappear on March 20, 2023.
However, his warrant for the prison custody was not ready, so the investigator in-charge took the accused back to the Manet Police Station, where he was initially held.
Unfortunately, on the dawn of Friday, March 4, 2023, Pius allegedly escaped from the Manet Police Station cells.
In the circuit Court 9 on Tuesday, May 9, 2023, presided over by justice Samuel Bright Acquah, the accused, Pius Anundoabil Ayoma told the court he was helped out by an officer who gave him hacksaw blade to cut the iron bars to escape.
The court has today remanded him to police custody and urged the investigator to ascertain if truly an officer aided him to escape from custody.
Pius is a former private security personnel who, after being expelled by his company for petty thievery of a home he was guarding, later decided to launch a full-scale attack on the occupants, amidst alleged threat of death.
Details
The Principal State Attorney (PSA), Sefakor Batse, told the court, presided over by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, that the complainant in the case is Emmanuel Quartey, who resides together with his wife off the Spintex Road.
She added that the accused, Pius Anundoabil Ayoma, also lives in the same vicinity, and was a security man with a private security company.
According to her, the accused was assigned by the said private security firm to work at the residence of the couple as a security guard till he was relieved of that post upon a complaint made by the couple to his former employers of petty stealing at their residence.
On January 31, 2020 at about 7:30pm, the accused, although no longer working at the residence of the complainant, armed with a gun and a knife surfaced at the premises wearing a mask and attacked the new security man on duty.
He tied the security man’s legs and arms with a neck tie and a rope, after which he hit him several times with the butt of the gun. He then gained access to the main house with a duplicate key, which he already had.
He forcefully broke into the couple’s bathroom, where the wife of the complainant was freshening up to go to church and injured himself in the process, resulting in blood stains on the floor.
He ordered her to transfer some money from her phone to a mobile number, which investigations later revealed was registered in his name.
He then took her to the room where he had tied the complainant’s security guard and threatened to hit her with the gun just as he was hitting the security guard if she did not give him more money. She pleaded with him not to hit her because she was pregnant and did not want to lose her baby.
The accused forcibly made her transfer about GH¢2,000.00 onto the said phone number and even assaulted her.
He again asked her for more money, which she said she did not have, so he told her he would wait for her husband to return, since he was aware they were well to do.
Pius then tied her up in the bathroom, ransacked the rooms and collected various items belonging to the couple.
The accused then took away two iPhones, one Dell Laptop computer, one DSTV decoder, one subwoofer, one 32 inches Samsung television, one 55-inch Philips flat screen television, two travelling bags and assorted cloths.
Pius also ordered her to use her phone to order an Uber to come to the house. The accused, upon the arrival of the Uber driver, conveyed all the items with his (the Uber driver) assistance into the vehicle.
The accused did not, however, leave, but laid in wait for the complainant (husband) to return from work. When the complainant finally returned home, he realized his house was under attack. He saw his wife tied to the toilet seat and in his attempt to set her free was attacked by the accused who was hiding behind the bathroom door.
The court was further told that the accused tried hitting him (complainant) with his gun, but the complainant hit the gun with his hand and run outside while shouting for help.
The accused actually chased the complainant outside and fired the gun at him but missed, and he managed to escape unhurt.
The accused (who had earlier on come out unmasked to pack the stolen items into the Uber) jumped into the Uber vehicle but now masked, and ordered the driver at gunpoint to drive out of the house towards Spintex Road.
On their way the accused removed the mask and ordered the Uber driver to get a taxi for him.
The driver obliged and stopped a taxi and he transferred the booty into it and ordered the driver to drive in the direction of Kasapreko.
The police were informed and the accused was traced to Kasapreko junction, where he was spotted in the taxi with the stolen items belonging to the complainants. The police signaled the driver to stop and he did.
The accused came out and pointed a gun at the police. The police also pointed a gun at him, but upon realizing that the gun of the police was not functioning he (the accused) managed to escape from the vehicle leaving behind the taxi together with the booty.
The taxi was sent to the Manet Police Station where a complaint was lodged.
Later investigations revealed that the accused was hiding at Fumbisi in the Upper East Region where he was arrested.
In the process of arresting him, the accused resisted, with the assistance of his mother and other members of his family by firing at one of the arresting officers, injuring him in the process.
The accused, who has been in police custody, appeared before the High Court, Accra, presided over by Her Ladyship Justice Lydia Marfo, on March 1, 2023, and upon an application by the prosecution was remanded into prison custody to reappear on March 20, 2023.
