Two prison guards have appeared in an Accra Circuit Court on allegations that they helped Wang Xiao, a Chinese prisoner at Nsawam Medium Prison who was found guilty, escape.
Charges of conspiracy and facilitating escape have been brought against Joseph Oteng and Sergeant Isaac Boateng Bonsu.
The accused correctional guards allegedly reported to their supervisors that they were contacted by a Toyota Vitz automobile, which took off with the prisoner, after they had visited the hospital.
However, they have been unmasked by hotel CCTV footage. According to the CCTV footage, the accused took the Chinese convict to a hotel where he was shown a room to meet his wife.
While the officers waited in the hotel lobby area, the prisoner and his wife are said to have escaped over the balcony.
They entered not guilty pleas, and the court, chaired by Mrs. Afia Owusua Appiah, granted them bail in the amount of GHC 100,000 per, subject to the proof of two sureties.
The date of their return is April 9, 2024. The complainant was the third in command at the Nsawam Medium Security Prisons, according to the prosecution, which was led by Chief Inspector Wisdom Alorwu, and the accused were under his supervision.
The prosecution stated that the two officers were assigned, on February 7, 2024, at approximately 0700 hours, to accompany Wang Xiao, a Chinese national incarcerated for one year at Nsawam Medium Security Prisons, to Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital for medical attention.
The prosecutor stated that in exchange for a payment of GHC1,000, which they agreed to share, the two accused agreed to accompany the convict to the Oceans Hotel in Korle Gonno to see his wife for a talk after the convict was treated by a medical officer at the hospital’s Dental Department.
Chief Inspector Alorwu stated that the defendants pulled off the prisoner’s handcuffs and brought him to the hotel reception. The receptionist was notified by the second accused, Bonsu, that they were there to meet someone in one of the rooms
According to the prosecution, the two defendants sent the prisoner to the room, where they were welcomed by his putative wife, who served them KFC rice and drinks while she “spends some time with the husband alone.”
When the accused went back to the hotel room to speak with the prisoner, he found that the prisoner and his purported spouse had left via the balcony.
According to the prosecutor, the accused went to Tema Station Hockey to conceal the handcuffs with a case witness after the guilty person ran away.
When they were transporting the prisoner from the hospital, they were abruptly stopped by a yellow and black unregistered Toyota Vitz cab, and the prisoner jumped into the taxi and fled. They quickly called their superiors in Nsawam to report this.
The prosecutor stated that when the accused were questioned by their superiors at the Prisons National headquarters, on February 13, 2024, the Prisons National headquarters formally complained to the Police.
The defendant guided investigators to the hotel throughout their probe. After receiving meals from the offender’s wife, the accused were lounging in the reception area when the convict and his wife leaped from the first-floor building’s balcony and fled, according to an analysis of CCTV evidence.
The prosecutor stated that they were unaware of the prisoner’s escape until the hotel staff called to inquire about him.
