Court remands man who insulted president Akufo-Addo

An Accra circuit court has remanded a 40-year-old tile setter, Raphael Okoe Ankrah – also known as Okoe Killer –, into police custody for insulting President Akufo-Addo.

The police arrested Ankrah after they saw a video posted on social media showing him using very unsavoury words on the president.

The suspect has pleaded not guilty to offensive conduct conducive to breaches of peace. The court, presided over by Samuel Bright Acquah, adjourned the case to 30 May.

Police prosecutor, Maxwell Oppong, told the court that Ankrah lives in James Town. Oppong said on 15 May, the police saw a viral video of Ankrah insulting the president.

He said the police had to arrest him because the video was not only vile but had annoyed and agitated the public.

The police intelligence directorate tracked Ankrah and arrested him at his hideout in James Town, Accra.

The prosecutor said Ankrah admitted the offence in his investigation caution statement and was charged accordingly.

Yaw Dankwa, Ankrah’s defence counsel, who prayed for bail for the accused, said the charge does not support the facts. He said the charge is political because his client denied the offence upon arrest.

Dankwa suggested that the said video could have been manipulated and until it is presented and scrutinised in court, his client is innocent of the charges.

The defence counsel said Ankrah is a “responsible father.” He has a wife and a two-week-old baby, thus is not a flight risk. He added that his client has “people of substance” who are ready to stand surety for him.

The prosecutor, opposing the bail, pleaded with the court to send the accused to the psychiatric hospital because he told police he was not in his right frame of mind.

Oppong said that based on Ankrah’s utterances in the video, he is safer in police custody because his life is in danger in his community.

The prosecutor also said Ankrah is a squatter living in an uncompleted building with no fixed place of abode, but Dankwa said there are no uncompleted buildings in James Town.