The Circuit Court in Accra, presided over by Her Honour Basilia Adjei-Tawiah, has remanded two men into police custody for their alleged involvement in a violent robbery incident that occurred at Baatsonaa in March 2024.
The accused — Francis Ahianor, a 33-year-old storekeeper, and Samuel Forson, a 34-year-old forklift operator — were charged with abetment of crime, namely robbery, contrary to Sections 20(1) and 149 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29).
They pleaded not guilty and are scheduled to reappear in court on July 29, 2025.
A third suspect, Ebenezer Oteng Ortega, and two other unidentified accomplices remain at large.
The prosecution, led by Chief Inspector Daniel Ofori-Appiah, told the court that the complainant, Antoinette McCarthy, a trader based in Tema, was attacked in broad daylight after closing from work at the Fishing Harbour on March 7, 2024.
According to the prosecution, McCarthy was driving her Mini-Cooper saloon car (registration DV 3826 K) towards her residence when she made a stop at Joparma Printing Press near Octupuz Pub at Baatsonaa.
As she prepared to leave after collecting documents, two men on a motorbike confronted her inside her vehicle, pulled out a pistol, and demanded her car keys. They forcibly removed her from the vehicle, assaulted her, and stole her handbag containing GH¢500,000.00.
When she resisted, one of the robbers shot her in the right foot. A bystander, Benjamin Amankwah, who had earlier printed documents for the complainant, rushed out upon hearing the gunshot.
He was shot twice in the abdomen by the fleeing robbers and later died at the 37 Military Hospital on March 8, 2024, after being transferred from the Danpong Medical Centre.
Following a formal complaint filed by the victim, police launched investigations and arrested Samuel Forson in 2025 at the AFCO junction.
During interrogation, Forson implicated Francis Ahianor, who was subsequently arrested at Ashaiman.
Further investigations revealed that Forson, a former colleague of Ahianor at a different company, had in January 2024 approached him with a plan to rob the complainant, knowing Ahianor worked at her shop.
On the day of the robbery, Ahianor allegedly took photographs of the complainant’s car and shared them with Forson, who forwarded them to the armed robbers.
The two accused admitted during interrogation that they had also planned and executed a second robbery at Community 18 junction on March 28, 2024, targeting Pan African Bank personnel during their routine cash collection duties from the Fishing Harbour.
They allegedly received GH¢15,000 from the March 7 robbery and GH¢20,000 from the March 28 heist.
Both Ahianor and Forson have reportedly provided detailed caution and charge statements to investigators, while efforts are ongoing to arrest Ebenezer Oteng Ortega and the remaining accomplices.
The case has been adjourned to July 29, 2025, as police continue their investigations.
