Trotro driver and mate who beat police officer granted bail

[L-R] The driver and his mate[/caption]The commercial (trotro) driver and his conductor accused of assaulting a police officer have been granted bail by the Weija Circuit Court  Friday, March 29. The two are being processed to leave the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) cells. They were earlier charged with four counts of assaulting a police officer and causing road obstruction, as well as  conspiracy to commit crime and causing unlawful damage. Communications manager of Amnesty International Ghana, Samuel Agbotsey, told TV3 the two were granted bail partly due to ill-health and will reappear in court on Monday, April 1. Background Francis Buabeng and Albert Ansah, were arrested after they were captured in a video attacking a uniformed police officer at a bus stop around Mallam in Accra. Reports suggest the driver jumped red light and was pursued by the officer on a motorbike to a bus stop where the officer allegedly assaulted the driver who also got down from the mini bus to retaliate in similar manner. They were arrested and put before the Weija Circuit Court  without legal representation, and remanded into police custody to appear again on April 1. Human Rights Advocacy Centre (HRAC), which resolved to offer legal services to the two could not trace the whereabouts of the accused person as the various police stations they visited, including the Police CID headquarters claimed not to have them in their custody. HRAC said, though the Odorkor District Police claimed to have transferred the two from their custody to the police headquarters in Accra, officials at the headquarters also denied receiving the accused persons. This caused HRAC to write to demand the whereabouts of the two from the Ghana Police Service, the IGP and the Police CID. Subsequent to that letter, the Police CID invited HRAC as well as Amnesty International Ghana which also joined calls for the two accused persons to be produced, into a meeting last Friday at which they were informed the two have been transferred to BNI custody. The Police CID was said to have explained in the meeting that they transferred the two accused persons to BNI custody for their own safety. By 3news.com | Ghana]]>