BoG driver charged with manslaughter over death of ‘girlfriend’

The Attorney-General (AG) has asked the Police to formally charge Edwin Awuku – the man who allegedly shot and killed one Madam Comfort Owusu Afriyie – with manslaughter.

This was when Awuku, a driver with Ghana’s Central Bank, appeared before a new judge at the Asokwa District Court after spending close to eight months in prison custody due to Coronavirus restrictions.

His wife, Berlinda Awuku, will also face court for deceiving a public officer, the prosecution told the court on Thursday, October 29, 2020.

The court presided over by Her Worship, Hilda Esther Wryter, consequently, adjourned the case to November 13, while the police proffer another charge against her.

The suspects were ably represented by a lawyer during proceedings. The family of the deceased on their part told Dailymailgh.com that they are disappointed over the new development.

“Honestly we are unhappy about what we heard today”, brother of the deceased, Owusu Afriyie told DailyMailGh.com while appealing to sympathizers to remain calm as the family seeks justice for their departed daughter.

Background

Awuku was arrested after he allegedly shot and killed Ms. Comfort Owusu Afriyie, alias Maame Yaa, a popular restaurant operator at Asafo in Kumasi.

He reportedly ran to his house at Amakom to hide the gun and returned to allege that armed robbers had attacked them and killed Maame Yaa.

Source

According to the police, preliminary investigations showed that the suspect checked into the hotel on January 2, 2020, around 1 a.m. with Maame Yaa.

The source said Awuku, who had the gun on him, was fidgeting with the weapon and in the process the gun went off, killing the woman and also hurting his finger.

Sensing danger, the source said the suspect ran home to tell his wife and hid the weapon behind a fridge, and came back to the hotel to allege an armed robbery incident.

Confirmation

Confirming the incident, the Ashanti Regional Police Public Relations Officer, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mr. Godwin Ahianyo, said the suspect, together with the wife, came to complain of an armed robbery attack on the suspect at the hotel and alleged that Comfort was killed in the process.

However, he said that the police investigation had shown that it was the suspect rather who shot Comfort and went home to hide the gun, before reporting to the hotel and lodging a complaint with the police.

ASP Ahianyo said the suspect was currently in police custody, while the docket had been forwarded to the Attorney General’s Department for advice.