Four securitymen implicated

Story: Albert K. Salia
Two policemen and two soldiers have been implicated in the brutal beating that led to the death of a mini-bus driver at Suhum last month.
This was contained in a report compiled by the committee set up by the Ministry of the Interior to probe the death of the driver, George Kojo Atuah, alias Maclean, in police custody on August 3, 2003.
Atuah’s death in police custody stirred controversy. Members of his family accused the security operatives of his murder but the police rejected that accusation and claimed that the man died of diarrhoea.
But the committee found Detective Lance Corporal Felix Kwasi Dagadu, Constable David Darko, both of the Ghana Police Service, Staff Sergeant Roger Adama and Cpl Ibrahim Bukari, both of the Ghana Army, guilty of the offence and recommended their prosecution to serve as a deterrent to others.
In the report presented yesterday, the committee established that the four, who were members of the nine-member patrol team which arrested the deceased, severely assaulted him, noting further that the pathologist’s report indicated that the deceased died as a result of massive internal bleeding.
Disciplinary action is also to be taken against the leader of the patrol team, Sergeant Samuel Egyin of the Ghana Police Service for dereliction of duty.
Atuah was arrested upon the allegation that he refused to stop at a police-military checkpoint.
The seven-member committee, chaired by Mr Edward Agyeman Duodu, a Principal State Attorney, also recommended that the government should pay adequate compensation to the family of the deceased and bear the cost of the funeral expenses as well.
Other members of the committee were Major B. B. Owusu, second in command of the First Infantry Battalion; Warrant Officer Class II Ambrose Fiador of the Army Headquarters; Nana Akrasi Sarpong and Mr Ernest Kwarteng, both of the Ministry of the Interior; Mr Samuel Bediako of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), and Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Fred Adu Anim of the Ghana Police Service.
According to Mr Duodu, members of the committee interacted with the District Chief Executive for Suhum/Kraboa/Coaltar, the District Police Command, members of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) in the area and the family of the deceased and visited the scene of the incident at Ayekotse, a suburb of Suhum.
He said the committee also visited Koforidua to interact with the Regional Police Command and also took evidence from members of the patrol team, the pathologist who conducted the post-mortem on the deceased, evidence from the nurse on duty at the time the deceased was rushed to hospital and eyewitnesses at the time of the incident.
Mr Duodu said it was established that all members of the patrol team were economical with the truth.
However, he said, the committee established that four members of the nine-member patrol team severely assaulted the deceased.
According to him, two members of the team had earlier on alighted from the vehicle and were not part of the arresting team.
He said the pathologist’s report indicated that the deceased died as a result of massive internal bleeding.
Mr Duodu said the leader of the patrol team abdicated his duty by not calling the subordinates to order.
He said two other remaining police officers did not play any role in the assault, hence nothing should be held against them.
The Minister of the Interior, Mr Kwamena Bartels, who received the report, said the government was convinced that both the police and the army were doing very well to combat crime through the joint patrols.
He, however, said such activities must be done within the confines of the law even when somebody was suspected of being a criminal.
According to Mr Bartels, while the government was appealing to Ghanaians to avoid the meting out of instant justice to suspected criminals, such efforts would go unheeded, if the police were found to be indulging in such acts.
He commended members of the committee for the excellent work done and gave the assurance that the report would be treated with all the seriousness it deserved.
The Ministry of the Interior set up the committee on August 15, 2007 to investigate the circumstances leading to the death of Atuah, following contrasting reports on how he died.
While the family and some members of the public said Atuah died as a result of brutalities in the hands of the security personnel, the police contended that he died of natural causes.