General News of Wednesday, 7 August 2002

Source: Accra Mail

Mob Lynches Assailant

An unidentified man was lynched by a mob on Tuesday at Anwiankwanta in the Amansie East District after he ran amok and inflicted deep multiple cutlass wounds on a 35 year-old teacher and a driver.

The teacher, Mr Kofi Adamu and Isaac Appiah, the driver, in critical condition were rushed to the Asante-Bekwai Government Hospital.

Miss Diana Akafare, pregnant wife of the teacher, told the Ghana News Agency that she and the husband were working on their freshly cultivated onion farm, close to the Kumasi-Obuasi highway when they saw an unfamiliar man approaching them.

She said because they neither knew the man nor saw him as a threat, they continued with what they were doing but suddenly the man headed directly to her husband and violently attacked him without provocation.

The assailant picked up a cutlass that had fallen from Adamu's hand and started slashing him with it. The woman said Adamu managed to push the attacker down and they took to their heels in different directions screaming for help with the man in hot pursuit.

The man caught up with Adamu by the roadside, pushed him into a gutter and started slashing him again.

Passengers on board Kumasi and Obuasi bound buses that chanced upon the scene watched in horror but they could not rescue the teacher, who was bleeding profusely.

On receiving the reports of the attack, the inhabitants including Appiah rushed to the scene and attempted to rescue the teacher.

In his attempt to disarm the assailant, Appiah received deep cuts on the left hand and legs.

The District Police Commander, Mr Charles A.A. Bukari, who also witnessed the incident, attempted to mobilise his men from the Anwiankwanta Police station but could not get anybody since all the officers had been dispatched to the polling centres to provide security for the elections.

He subsequently called for reinforcement from Bekwai but before the Police arrived, the mob had lynched the unidentified assailant.

Meanwhile, the body has been deposited at the Asante-Bekwai hospital mortuary.