Anger as 52yr father dies in police custody
Enraged youth at Mosi Zongo in the Ashanti regional capital Kumasi are demanding answers after their 52-year-old relative died in police custody.
The man whose name has been given as Boaza Tongo was reportedly picked up by the police two weeks ago after a swoop on some drug ghettos in the community.
The family, who had been searching for him after his strange disappearance for two weeks, only got wind on Wednesday that their father had been arrested and arraigned without their knowledge and remanded into police custody until his demise.
The family are suspecting fowl play as they insist their relative was not given the care he needed to keep him in safe custody.
An opinion leader at Mosi Zongo Malam Isa who speaks for the family insisted that the death of their community member leaves more questions unanswered.
He questioned, “We are asking that in the arrest of the guy, has procedure and law been followed? The police told us yesterday that when they arrested our brother, they sent him to Mampong court but which of the family members were there to witness that their family member had been arrested?”
“They told us again that they sent him to the hospital and we want to know which hospital did they send him and can they produce the folder that really shows that they really sent him to the hospital and we have not had that till now,” he fumed.
The daughter of the deceased, Adjoa Boaza insists the police dealt unfairly with the family failing to inform the community about the incarceration, arraignment and eventual death of their father.
She told Ultimate News’ Ivan Heathcote – Fumador that they only assumed that their father, a security man who also works at a washing bay in the area had joined one of the trucks on their long treks.
She lamented that they only heard of his demise as rumours started spreading three days after his death.
She recounted, “Our father works at the washing bay and sometimes he joins the trucks to go for their long trips. But after two weeks he had not come home. We were contemplating going to make a report at the police station. While we asked around, someone told us that he had heard that our father has been arrested and had died in the prison.”
“The police told us that our father felt ill and was sent to the hospital where he died. When we went to the hospital they informed us that the body was deposited at the morgue some three days back,” Adjoa added.
Already the youth in the Moosi Zongo area are angered and have given the police one week to answer all their questions or face their wrath.
The youth are also accusing the police of inciting informants and volunteers to point at criminals for a reward of 400 cedis per criminal; a development they say has pushed these informants to go on wide fishing without any evidence to make some money for themselves.
The area also appears to be getting more tensed as they insist a relative of theirs in the prison has confirmed to them that Mr Boaza died in police cells laying on his very laps in sharp contrast with reports that he was sent to the hospital for treatment.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM/Ivan Heathcote-Fumador
