My Life In Danger Says Amina Brother

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

William Yaw Owusu

Thursday March 17, 2011.
Michael Ofosu Frimpong aka ‘Amina Brother’, the young man who claimed to be on the Yutong Bus where the alleged mass rape of passengers occurred yesterday told an Accra Circuit Court that he fears for his life at the Nsawam Maximum Security Prisons where he is being held on remand.

He made the appearance before the court presided over by Kyei Baffuor and charged with deceit of public officer and in another surprise move told the presiding judge that certain people wanted him dead.

“I have been in custody for four months. I was in police custody before being sent to the Nsawam Prisons but I am not safe there. My life is in danger. They want to kill me,” Frimpong stated in court.

It was the same Frimpong who testified as a prosecution witness at another Circuit Court trying Amina Mohammed, the lady at the center of the mass rape saga, alleging that he was asked by top New Patriotic Party (NPP) stalwarts like Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, National Chairman, Kennedy Agyapong, MP for Assin North, Yaw Osafo Maafo former Minister of Finance and counsel for Amina, Prof Ken Attafuah to corroborate the sex story so they can give him some money.

The accused person after a few days turned around to claim that he was coached to say those things against the NPP stalwarts in the Amina trial by the police and the Attorney General’s Department.

His allegations have since sparked political uproar with both the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the NPP at each other’s throat over who is manipulating Frimpong.

When the case was called at exactly 11: 02 am yesterday, Paul Asibi Abariga, a State Attorney trying the case said following a court order Frimpong was sent to a psychiatrist to assess him but the report was still not ready.

He then asked the court for an adjournment to enable the police to procure the psychiatrist report from the Accra Psychiatric Hospital.

The judge then enquired from the prosecutor about the way forward of the case since he is aware that Frimpong was used as a witness in the Amina case.

Mr. Abariga replied: “My Lord I want specific instructions on the way forward of this case. We will submit the report and inform the court accordingly on the way forward.”

Frimpong who listened attentively from the dock suddenly raised his right hand and when the judge granted his request to speak, he said “I have been in custody for four months. I was in police custody before being sent to the Nsawam Prisons but I am not safe there. My life is in danger. They want to kill me.”

The judge then asked: “Are you not the same person who said you did not want to be granted bail when I gave you one the last time?”

Frimpong replied: “I knew that people were looking for me”.

The judge then said “as a result of your detention, I even reviewed your bail conditions from one surety to be justified to one surety without any justification. Don’t you have relatives?”

Frimpong said “My family does not care about me. I want to go home. The prisoners want to attack me.”

The court then adjourned proceedings until March 25, 2011 to await the psychiatrist’s report.

Frimpong who has no legal representation was picked up on November 17, 2010 after granting an interview to Great FM, an Achimota based private radio station in Accra where he gave certain descriptions about what he claimed happened on October 11, 2010, in what is now known as the ‘Amina Bus Rape’ saga.

Just as dusts were settling on the Amina mass bus rape matter which resonated throughout the country, teasing many minds as to its veracity given also the politicization of the subject, Frimpong, a resident of Kumasi granted an interview to Great FM claiming he was on board the bus with registration GN 623-10 where the alleged incident took place.

Recounting the incident on Great FM, Frimpong had claimed that they left Accra at about 10:30 pm and when they got to Kubease near Ejisu, he heard the driver shout ‘Jesus’ and applied the brakes.

He claimed the armed robbers fired warning shots some of which hit the bonnet and as well as the side mirror of the bus and glasses splashed on the driver.
“The driver tried to move but they had blocked the road with logs and therefore he had to park.”

He said he saw four of the robbers two of whom were women and the women first entered the bus and ordered the passengers to surrender all their personal effects including mobile phones and money.

“They searched everywhere and after taking what they wanted, they ordered the women to step out of the bus first”.

Frimpong claimed that when the female passengers were asked to step out of the bus, they were all ordered to remove their clothing including the panties and braziers before the robbers lined them up beside the bus.

“The male passengers were also ordered out and I was ordered to lie on top of a woman who is more than 40 years and have sex with her,” he told the radio station.

He claimed two females on the bus were spared in the sex ordeal because one was very old and another said she was in her menstruation cycle and added that two white women who were on the bus were also forced to have sex with the men.

Frimpong further claimed that when he pretended to be having sexual intercourse with his ‘partner’ one of the robbers hit his waist with the butt of a gun and it put him into forced ejaculation and went ahead to have sex with the woman.

He corroborated Amina’s claim that a man who was sending his daughter to school was forced to sleep with the 14-year old girl.

He said after the incident the driver sent them to Ejisu Police Station where they were all asked to stand in front of the office whilst the driver went inside with a police officer and after returning the police asked the driver to proceed to his destination and come back to report to them.

When asked by the host of the programme why it had taken him so long to help the police unravel the mystery surrounding the matter, Frimpong said he was afraid the police would arrest him and treat him in the same way they have done to Amina.
He had said nobody had given him money or influenced him to come to say what he is saying now.

The Amina-related story, now a politicized issue, has not been without side attractions since it hit the media landscape and the young man spoke on a radio station, corroborating the mass sex revelation.

The repucursions has been far-reaching because apart from the political undertone, 17 police officers have fallen over the Frimpong phone-calls from the police cells where he was being held before his recent transfer to the Nsawam Medium Security Prisons last week.

Following the story, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Paul Tawiah Quaye, ordered a random search of police cells in Accra, an inspection which showed a number of mobile phones in possession of inmates across cells in the Accra Command and those found culpable have since been interdicted, affecting 17 cops.