Businessman Emmanuel Amoah Quartey has told the High Court in Accra and the jury how his former security guard stormed their house, tied his wife to a toilet seat, and fired the gun at him.
He also told the jury and the High Court presided over by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo how his former guard, who was then masked, “chased him through the corridors and through the kitchen to outside” with a double barrel gun.
Mr Quartey, who was testifying as the third Prosecution Witness (PW3) in the case in which Pius Anundoabil Ayoma, 22, his former security guard is standing trial for charges including attempted robbery.
In his evidence-in-chief to the court and the jury while being led by Mrs Sefakor Batse, a principal state attorney, the witness said the masked man, later identified as his former security guard, “fired the gun at him” outside.
“The shock wave of the bullet hit my head as though somebody had used a brick to hit my head,” the businessman man told the jury while testifying.
“I hit the barrel of the gun with my right fist and started to run outside whilst shouting on top of my voice, armed robbers, armed robbers,” Mr Quartey said to the Jury.
“The masked man chased me through the corridors and through the kitchen outside,” and “it was outside that he fired the gun at me,” he added.
He said, “The shock wave of the bullet hit my head as though somebody had used a brick to hit my head.”
“The bullet hit the metal burglar proof in between my fence wall. I continued to run outside whilst shouting at the top of my voice, armed robbers, armed robbers.
“Because I knew he had intentions to continue firing at me, I began to wiggle while running.
“I ran to my neighbour’s house, which is about four houses away. While running to my neighbour’s house, I outran him and when he realised he had lost the chase, he stopped chasing me,” he said in his evidence to the jury.
Neighbour’s security intervention
He told the jury that “the security officer in my neighbour’s house came out as well as some of my neighbours.”
According to him, “Standing from my neighbour’s house, I saw the masked man go back into the house, sat in the car and they sped off.”
“Together with my neighbours, we went to my house and then we went to untie my wife,” adding that “after I untied my wife, she kept repeating to me that the masked man was Pius.”
T-Shirt identity
With the accused person’s name mentioned to him, he said, “This I did not doubt because, standing from my neighbour’s house, I saw the masked man wearing a T-shirt which had police written behind it.”
“This T-shirt I had seen my former security guard, Pius, wearing whilst working in my house. And anytime I asked him why he was wearing the police t-shirt, he would tell me the shirt belonged to his brother.
“My wife then told me that our night security guard, Ernest, was tied in the next room. I went to the next room, untied the security guard, and realised he could not breathe.
“I quickly made arrangements for the night security guard to be taken to the nearest hospital, which was the Inkoom Hospital on Spintex Road,” he told the jury.
Fateful January 31
Narrating his ordeal to the jury, he said that on January 31, 2023, he dropped off his wife at her office and proceeded to his office at Achimota.
According to him, that week they had a programme with their Spiritual father, Rev. Eastwood Anaba, at Sakumono, which was meant to start at 6:00 pm.
He said he told his wife he would pick her up from her office for the program but, sadly, on that day he “had a lot of things to do in the office and so I requested our neighbour, who was also going for the same church service, to pick my wife up.”
The third witness said he got to church around 7:00 pm on that day to meet an auditorium that was very packed and he had to sit outside throughout the service.
He told the court that the program was almost closed and they had to go and drop their offering on the altar, “so I entered the auditorium to drop my offering at the altar.”
Search for wife
According to him, when he entered the auditorium, he looked through the choristers who were on the stage but could not find “his wife, who was a chorister.”
“When I went back outside I called an usher to enquire from my neighbour whom I requested to pick my wife up where my wife was,” he explained.
“The response was that my wife had told her to take the lead. I then proceeded to make phone calls to my wife.
“When I did not get her response and also because the program was almost ending I drove off to the house,” he told the jury.
Uber with double hazard lights on
He said, “Upon reaching my gate, I honked for a little while and the security officer did not open the gate,” adding that “I got down from my car and opened the gate myself.”
The 3rd Witness said, “When I opened the gate, I saw a grey Nissan Sentra car parked under my carport with the double hazard light on.
“I approached the driver and asked him what he was doing in my house,” and “he (Uber driver) said he was an Uber driver and they were doing something for us in the house.
“I went outside the gate and drove my car into the compound. I got down from the vehicle and walked into the house through the kitchen door, which then served as our main door even though we had a main entrance,” he told the jury.
Blood stains
Mr Quartey told the court and the jury that, when he entered the house through the kitchen door, it was already opened while the lights were off.
“I tried to enter the living room from the kitchen and the door was locked,” he said, “I then walked through the corridor towards our bedroom and I realized the bedroom door was opened with the lights on.”
According to him, when I looked into the bedroom, he saw stains of blood all over the floor leading to the bathroom.
“I entered the bedroom and the bathroom door was slightly opened. When I peeped into the bathroom, I saw my wife tied to the toilet seat with a lot of stuff; some were sponges, and some were my neckties.
“I walked towards my wife with the intention of untying her.
“It was when I tried to open the bathroom door wide that a masked man came out from behind the door and pointed a gun at me,” he stated.
