Crime & Punishment of Tuesday, 31 August 2004

Source: GNA

Barber accuses Policemen of assault

Sefwi-Wiawso (W/R), Aug 31, GNA- A 34-year-old barber, has been admitted at the Intensive Care Unit of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi, following severe beating he allegedly received from four armed police personnel at Sefwi-Boako in the Sefwi-Wiawso District of the Western Region.

Clement Owusu, alias Joe Barber, who is on life supporting machines with swollen scrotum, enlarged jaws and deep cuts on the ribs and shoulders was said to have been attacked by the police men who were on guard duties at the local branch of the Bank of Ghana.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), at his bedside, he said he was riding a motorbike from Sefwi-Asafo to Boako when the exhaust pipe became defective causing excessive noise.

He said he was at a mechanic shop, to fix the pipe when the policemen attacked him with the butts of their guns without any provocation till he became unconscious.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Joseph Anneh, Sefwi-Wiawso District Police Commander, when contacted told the GNA, that the police personnel had admitted that there was a scuffle between them and Mr Owusu at a restricted area.

He explained that he was yet to ascertain whether the allegations of Mr Owusu were true since he was in coma when police contacted him. ASP Anneh said the Boako police called for reinforcement when some angry youth of the town mobilised to attack the police personnel.