GIVE ME GH¢100 AND TAKE MY PHOTOGRAPH …NOTORIOUS KOMBIAN TELLS JOURNALISTS IN COURT

 

By Felix Engsalige Nyaaba

As if the booty he got from various robberies which later sent him to prison was not enough, the notorious armed robber, Johnson Kombian, last Friday after the District Magistrate Court has failed to hear his bill of indictment boldly asked journalists covering the case to pay him GHC10.00 before taking his photograph.

The court could not hear the case because there was no interpreter to interprete Kombian’s local Bimoba language to him  case for lack of interpreter,

Kombian popularly known as ‘Nyankpanduri Terror’ has been indicted to stand trial at the High Court on two counts of conspiracy to commit crime of murder and murdering two policemen.

He is alleged to have murdered Constable Prince Kwaku Agyare and Constable Owusu Frimpong in 2010.

The court presided over by His Worship,  Mr. Ali Baba Bature, adjourned the case after Kombian had told the court, he would like to speak to the court in his native Bimoba language.

Kombian, 35, has been handed the bill of indictment at the Ankaful Maximum Security Prison where he is currently serving 13 years for escaping from lawful custody on two occasions.

Healthy looking and smiling Kombia, told the court that his counsel was indisposed and was therefore not in court.

After throwing the court into a little laughter, the Judge adjourned the case and ordered the Registrar to contact the Chief Interpreter of the Judicial Services to get the court any person who can speak Bimoba and can also interpret it to the understanding of the convict and adjourned the case to May 23, this year.

Johnson Kombian was brought to court after the Attorney General upon studying the documents on him directed the police to start the process for his trial for the murder of the two policemen.

He was handed a seven-year jail term for his first escape from the Gambaga Prison and six years for his escape from the Tamale Prison.

Kombian, who is said to have killed the two policemen and wounded another at Nankpanduri in October 2010, managed to escape to Togo but he was arrested by Interpol in Togo and handed over to the Ghana Police.

Before being declared wanted, Kombian was alleged to have murdered a number of his robbery victims during his brutal operations at Nankpanduri, with his last victims being the two policemen.

After that assault, Kombian eluded the police by shuttling between Ghana, Togo and Burkina Faso and the Police Administration  then placed a GH¢3,000 to any member of the public who would volunteer information leading to his arrest.

Incidentally, a day after Kombian’s arrest in Togo, one of his alleged victims, Constable Prince Agyare, was buried at his home town near Koforidua in the Eastern Region.

In addition to the murder of and injury to the policemen, Kombian was wanted to face trial in a number of other cases, including robbery, attempted murder, possession of firearms without lawful authority, escaping from lawful custody and stealing.

Until his escape, he was serving a five-year jail term for a previous escape and awaiting trial for robbery and attempted murder.