A 24-year-old man has been hospitalized in Tamale after a mob slit his neck and hacked his leg with a cutlass for allegedly stealing a motorcycle popularly known as “Mapouka.
Sumaila Haleek is being treated at the Tamale West Hospital for severe body damage after the nine armed muscled men tortured him into coma with heating elements, cutlasses, metal wire, stones and sticks before dumping him on a landfill site.
The mob accused him together with his girlfriend of stealing the motorbike and an undisclosed amount of money belonging to a young man who hired them to retrieve the swags. The duo allegedly stole the motorbike from the young man at lamashegu but were identified by a neighbor who witnessed the theft.
Sumaila’s girlfriend and accomplice swiftly managed to escape after rumors that they were being sought after escalated. He was, however, arrested at his father’s house in Moshie Zongo by the mob and taken to a secluded spot in the bushland outskirt lamashegu where they staged the brutal assault.
The mob allegedly tied his hands and legs and poured a liquid acid on his head to coerce a confession. Metals were heated and forcibly thrust through his neck steaming out some flesh leaving the neck partially slit.
Speaking to Starr News, he added that the attackers used cutlass to hack his legs several times and sharp objects were impaled into his skin leaving him paralyzed and in excruciating rib pains.
Sumaila denied all allegations but his attackers ignored his desperate pleas and wailing and tormented him till he became unconscious. He was then wrapped and dumped on a rubbish dump after being feared dead.
“They took me to their house and locked me up and started to beat me saying I stole their bike. And used cutlass to cut my legs and heat metal iron and they used it to rob my neck, hand and even my back. When they used the heater to rob my body, they were pouring the acid in my injuries and on my face”.
The victim was taken to hospital after a Good Samaritan who witnessed the baleful attack informed his parents.
His condition has stabilized after going through surgeries but with the scale of injuries, he may spend months at the hospital receiving treatment, hospital sources have said.
Surprisingly, parents of the victim have willingly refused to report the case to the police saying they want him to draw lessons from the painful ordeal.
“My parents told me ‘my eye is not down’ [sic] because I’m [always] in town roaming. I’m a scammer and they told me to stop that kind thing and they would put me in work and also don’t want to stop and learn work,” Haleek indicated.
Lynching of suspects of motorcycle theft is common in the region.
