Four policemen of the police/military patrol team involved in the shooting which resulted in the death of a 21-year-old man at Kokomlemle in Accra last Saturday, have been arrested on the orders of the Inspector General of Police (IGP).
The IGP, Mr Paul Tawiah Quaye, gave the order last Wednesday following a petition from the family of the deceased and the four were immediately arrested to assist the police in their investigations.
They are Lance Corporal Abednego Amoah, Constable Alex Nyamekye, Constable Kingsley Amponsah and Constable Charles Oduro Kwarteng. The soldiers on the team are yet to be identified.
The Director of the Police Public Affairs Directorate, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Kwesi Ofori, who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday, said the administration attached seriousness to the ongoing investigations and would leave no stone unturned till they got to the bottom of the issue.
He assured members of the public that the police would not provide any cover for those found to be liable, but would investigate the incident to its logical conclusion.
DSP Ofori said should the suspects be found culpable, the laws of the land would take their full course, and gave the assurance that the patrol men would be professional in the discharge of their duties and dealings with the public.
He said the war on armed robbery still continued, and that perpetrators of violent crimes would not be spared in the exercise and commended the patrol teams for their efforts that had allowed decent citizens to go about their normal duties without fear or intimidation.
The Public Affairs Director also appealed to the media to be circumspect in their reportage and stressed that the shooting incident had nothing to do with the Government, and that it was purely a police affair.
He said soon after the incident, the IGP ordered investigations into the incident and urged the press not to muddy the waters.
“We are an age-long institution and face our challenges as an organisation. Besides, our main duty is to protect everybody in the country,” he said.
He said inasmuch as vehicles stopped by the police to conduct searches caused a lot of inconveniences to the public, it was a routine exercise to ensure that criminals did not escape the police.
DSP Ofori appealed to members of the public to co-operate with the patrol teams and those who conducted snap checks during the night, and advised that whenever anyone was stopped or questioned by the police any time or any day, they should be courteous because the police were carrying their legitimate duties to ensure peace in the country.
Last Saturday, a 21-year-old man was allegedly shot by the police and left to die by members of a patrol team at Kokomlemle in Accra.
The man, Frank Yeboah, a car dealer at Kokomlemle, who was pronounced dead at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital from gunshot wounds he received from the patrol team, was said to have pleaded with the patrol men to have him taken to hospital for treatment, but they refused.
Author : Mary Mensah
No comments:
Post a Comment