A taxi driver, Bismark Tetteh recounts how he was jailed despite his innocence over the theft of six gallons of diesel.
Narrating his journey to prison, the young man said that a church member phoned him to help him transport a gallon of diesel from Bedate in the Central Region on a Saturday evening after he had closed from work.
Though he was a bit hesitant, he, however, proceeded to convey the fuel. He said when they got to a police barrier at Akoti Junction on their way towards Accra, the accomplices who his church member had asked to come along with him fled into the bush leaving him alone.
This was after the suspects tried to coerce him to break the barrier and bolt but he refused.
“After they fled, the police arrested me. When they were investigating the matter, I mentioned the name of my church member as the main suspect. At the police station, I managed to call the church member and he sent someone to come and bail me with an amount of One Thousand Five Hundred Ghana cedis,” he said.
Tetteh said he was rearrested when he was called to visit the police station even after the police promised that he would be left off the hook if he names the suspect.
“Days later, I was called by the investigator to come to the police station. It did not sit well with me but I still went to the station. Immediately I got there I was put behind the counter and subsequently into the cell,” he recalled with pain.
He said he was processed for court without an opportunity to have access to a lawyer.
Tetteh said he was not made to talk during proceedings and was jailed three years to serve his imprisonment at the Ankaful Maximum Security Prison.
Few months to end his sentence, the driver said he was transferred to the Awutu Camp Prison to complete it.
Tetteh advised colleague drivers to be vigilant so that they are not caught in a similar situation, which will land them in trouble.
By Rudolph Nandi
