Whoever thinks the invocation of the Ashanti river deity, Anota Nyamaa, and seven other gods to curse the Ashanti Regional Police Commander and his subordinates over the death of a youth man at Sepe Timpom, a Kuamsi suburb, will force the commander to rescind his claim that the deceased was an armed robber, is making a big mistake.

In his first reaction to the curse, the regional commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Augustine Gyenin, rubbished it, calling it a joke.

DCOP Gyenin told The Mirror, “I don’t fear huu,” literally meaning, “I don’t fear any curse”, when the paper had a chat with him to know what he was doing about the curse.

Last week, an 85-year-old woman, Yaa Serwaa, who is the grandmother of the deceased, invoked the deities in a curse she heaped on the police using Schnapps and pepper as the spiritual accompaniment.

That was because she believed her late grandson was not an armed robber, as the police claimed.

But DCOP Gyening stated that the police did the right thing and, therefore, they did not fear anything.

He insisted that if such curses were to work, all policemen would have died by now.

It is recalled that a police patrol team, on June7, 2012, shot Asante dead at Sepe Timpon after accusing him of being part of an alleged armed gang that operated in the area that night.

The police said when they reached the community following a distress call, suspected armed robbers exchanged gunfire with them and in the process Asante was shot dead.

According to the police, a search on the deceased revealed a machete, which they suspected he used in terrorizing his victims.

However, the assembly member of the area and other community members dismissed the position of the police, saying the deceased was not an armed robber.

They explained that the deceased was among a group of young men in the community who had put themselves up that night to prevent some unidentified gangsters from attacking the residents of the community.

With the police insisting that they did no wrong, the old lady decided to curse the regional commander and the other policemen for the wrongful death of her grandson.

Among the other three deities she used in cursing the police were ayanta, buokyerewa, kosaanyie and Awonsra.

Meanwhile, Joseph Kyei Boateng has reported that the family of Asante observed a one week celebration in his memory last Saturday, July 14, 2012.

The ceremony which was held at Sepe Timpom attracted a lot of people within the community as well as others from the adjoining communities who came and extended their condolences to the bereaved family.