An Accra Circuit Court has postponed the trial until May 3 for two Prison Officers accused of assisting a Chinese convict, Wang Xiao, in escaping from Nsawam Medium Security Prisons. Joseph Oteng and Sergeant Isaac Boateng Bonsu, the accused officers, have refuted the allegations of conspiracy and aiding escape. Presided over by Mrs. Afia Owusuaa Appiah, the court deferred the proceedings to allow the prosecution to submit their disclosures. Both correctional officers are currently out on GHC100,000 bail each.
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Chief Inspector Wisdom Alorwu, leading the prosecution, informed the court that the complainant was the third in Command at Nsawam Medium Security Prisons, and the accused officers served under his supervision. On February 7, 2024, around 7:00 AM, the two officers were assigned to escort Xiao to Korle Bu Teaching Hospital for medical treatment. After the convict received treatment at the hospital’s Dental Department, the officers agreed to accompany him to Oceans Hotel in Korle Gonno to meet his wife for a discussion in return for a GHC1,000 reward, to be split between them. They removed Xiao’s handcuffs and escorted him to the hotel reception.
At the hotel, Bonsu informed the receptionist that they were there to visit someone in a room. They took Xiao to a room where he purportedly met his wife, who offered them food and drinks while she spent time with him. Upon returning to the room to check on Xiao, the officers found that both Xiao and his alleged wife had escaped through the balcony. After Xiao fled, the officers went to Tema Station Hockey Pitch to conceal the handcuffs with a witness.
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They immediately reported to their superiors in Nsawam, claiming that while they were escorting Xiao from the hospital, they were intercepted by an unregistered Yellow and black Toyota Vitz Taxi, and Xiao escaped in it. Their superiors at the Ghana Prisons Service headquarters interrogated them, leading to a formal complaint submitted to the Police on February 13, 2024. During the investigation, the officers guided the Police to the hotel, where CCTV footage revealed Xiao and his alleged wife escaping from the balcony while the officers were in the reception area. It was only when the hotel staff alerted them to check on Xiao that they realized he had escaped.
