A 24-year-old commercial driver has been sentenced to nine month jail-term by the Assin-Fosu District Court for biting the fingers of a police officer while resisting arrest.
The convict, Ebenezer Nkoom, pleaded guilty to 13 different charges, including causing harm, unlawful harm, resisting arrest, and seven road traffic offences.
He begged for leniency at the court presided over by Abdul Majeed Illiasu.
Presenting the facts of the case, Chief Inspector Gilbert Ayongo said the complainants were General Constable Samuel Ayamba and Police Woman Constable Sophia Essel, who are officers stationed at the Central North Regional Police Command of the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD).
According to him, on Friday, April 7, 2023, at about 06:30 hours, the complainants were detailed to manage traffic at the Assin-Fosu old market stretch of the highway where they spotted the convict who was in charge of Hyundai Atos Taxi with registration No. CR 1157-20.
The prosecutor said while the vehicles were in motion, the convict stopped at an undesignated place to solicit for and pick up passengers without reasonable consideration to other road users.
According to the prosecutor, the police officers approached the convict and cautioned him not to pick up passengers at the place, and directed him to leave with his passengers immediately.
But the convict was adamant and replied that he would continue to pick up passengers from that spot until the police arrested all other drivers who did the same.
Chief Inspector Ayongo stated that the Nkoom returned to the same location with impunity which led to his arrest.
He said the officers sat in the vehicle of the convict to be driven to the Regional MTTD office but he instead, drove the officers to an unknown destination and attempted to escape but was immediately rearrested and resisting the arrest.
During the process, he bit the finger of General Constable Ayamba, inflicting severe injuries on his hand.
The prosecutor said a civilian motor rider who witnessed the incident quickly picked up the injured police officer and chased the convict who drove the vehicle into the nearby bush, abandoned it, and absconded.
The two officers returned to the office and reported the incident to ASP Wonder Lumor, the Central North Regional MTTD Commander, who deployed two plain-clothed policemen and CID officers to the scene.
He said about an hour later, the convict emerged in the company of two others, and he was arrested to assist with investigations.
A thorough check on the vehicle and documents revealed that the convict had failed to validate his driver’s license since Tuesday, February 1, 2022, and was driving a commercial vehicle at an unauthorized age of 24, instead of 25 years and above.
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