By Beatrice Oppon and Pricisilla Owusu Ansah
Parents of a sixteen-year-old boy who allegedly rammed a Jaguar vehicle into another car causing the deaths of two persons at East Legon in Accra have been arraigned before a circuit court in Accra.
Bishop Ellisah Salifu Amoako of the Alive Chapel International and his wife Mouha Amoako and one Linda Bonsu Bempah, an employee of the family have been charged with one count of permitting an unlicensed person to drive. They have been released on bail in the sum of 50,0000 cedis with two sureties each.
Assistant State Attorney Yaw Acquah urged the court to order the accused persons to deposit their passports and Ghana cards but the Court declined and directed that they should rather notify the Court whenever they want to travel.
The Prosecution narrated that last Saturday, October 12, 2024, the family was celebrating the 25th birthday of another son when Linda gave the key of the said vehicle to the juvenile driver, Elrad Amoako knowing very well that he was a minor and did not have a driver’s licence.
Elrad Amoako then drove the said vehicle with his friend Prince Tijani towards the Bawaleshie direction on the Dzanie Ashie street in East Legon. On reaching a section of the road at Mensah Wood Avenue junction, he drove into the rear of an Acura 4×4 vehicle.
The impact propelled both vehicles across the road into a fence wall of a nearby house. The two vehicles caught fire and got burnt beyond recognition. Two occupants of the Acura vehicle Justine Agbenu and Maame Dwomoh Boateng, both 12 years old, were trapped in the vehicle and died from the fire.
The Prosecution said Elrad Amoako and two of the injured occupants are currently on admission at the University of Ghana Medical Center. The parents are reported to have admitted during investigations that they allowed their son to drive to the gym, within their neighbourhood and to other places. The accused persons will reappear before the Court on October 30, 2024.
Meanwhile, sympathizers of Bishop Amoako and his family, assaulted journalists who were in Court to cover the case and prevented them from taking videos of the accused persons.
They also assaulted a Police Officer on duty at the Court who tried to intervene.
